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I LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. I 

5|[h:i3.vP.y ^opurialit :\o ^ 

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f UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, f 



AGGRESSIVE AVORK 

IN THE CHURCH OF CHRIST, 



DIRECTIONS FOR CONDUCTING MISSIONS AND ORGANIZING 

BROTHERHOODS AND GUILDS. ALSO, A PAPER ON 

"PAROCHIAL MISSIONS," BY THE REV. CANON 

FREMANTLE, (ENG.) 

JVith an Introduction by the Rt. Rev. F. D. Huntington^ D.D., 

Bishop of Central New York. 



**^Conquering and to conquer."— Rev. v., 2, 
*Mn season and out of season."— 2 Tim. iv., 2. 



P. B. MORGAN, 

Rector., St. John^ s Church., Ithaca>^'^'^( ^'J" C ' 



3 . 



ithaca, n. y. 

Andrus, McChain & Lyons, 

e. p. button & co., new york. 



'& 



,.<* 



Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1873. by P. B MOE- 
GAX, in the office of the Lib;-arian ot Congress.'^at Washington. 



The Library 
ot Congress 



WASHINGTON 



O LoED Jesus Cheist, wlio at thj first coming didst send 
thy messenger to prepare thy way"^ before thee ; grant that the 
Ministers and Stewards of thy mysteries may likewise'so prepare 
and make ready thy way, b}^ turning the hearts of the disobedi- 
ent to the wisdom of tbe just, that, at thy second coming to 
judge the world, we may be found an acceptable people in thy 
sight, who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy 
Spirit, ever one God, world without end. — Amen. 



PREFACE. 



This volume is a humble attempt to again call attention to 
the aggressive work of the Church, and the abiding law of re- 
ligious progress : to a princii)le indispensable to the Church's 
success, and as primitive as is Ajjostolical Christianity. Im- 
bedded in the Church's history from first to last, and the prime 
factor in every movement legitimate to the Church of Christ, 
this law stands forth itself the great coiiimission to Go, and 
disciple the nations. 

It is surprising that an element of such importance should 
be suffered to fail into abeyance. It is a sorry fact when un- 
prejudiced umpires say of the religious atmosphere, "Cold- 
ness " is the verdict, and representatives themselves confess, 
" We are dying of dignity ! " For "Like priest, like people !" 

But if we are not mistaken, we have reached a brighter 
dawning. Long have the faithful ]3leaded for the w^ork wrought 
in the days of our fathers, "and in the old time before them !" 
Meanw^hile God has waited to be gracious. To-day, the 
Church rejoices in the renewal of her faith. A great religious 
impulse is now pervading the Church, and the tide of a true 
rehgious fervor — a new zeal — seems fairly to have set in upon 
us. 

This on the one hand must not be ignored. It is command- 
ed that we "Quench not the Spirit." — Nor, on the other hand, 
should we willingly see it diverted from its legitimate course 
—a blessing for the whole Church as it is— into narrow and 
erratic channels. And yet is it not true now as of old, that 
" The Spirit of the prophets is subject to the prophets !" 

Therefore for the Church to consider, and especiallj^ at the 
present moment, by what Apostolical instrumentality she can 
permanently secure to herself this ever augmenting force, and 
by what methods she can utilize and develop this aggressive 
power, having an eye to a just precedent, is clearly a work of 
the gravest importance. 

Judging from the facts coming to our knowledge, the Church 



iv Preface, 

of England, with all her shoit-comings and her Church-and- 
State trammels, is in this direction, lar in advance of the Pro- 
testant Episcoj)al Church, in America. And yet we trust the 
day is not far away when the Church here as there, and 
throughout Christendom, shall go forth, mighty as an army 
with banners ; ahve to the aggressive work of Him who said 
to His Church — what she is so prone to forget — -'Thirik not 
that I am come to send peace on earth : I came not to send 
peace, but a sword ! *' 

But in comparison with a zeal that projects and carries for- 
ward sixty missions in the city of London, simultaneously, 
having for their support the heaiiy concurrence and personal 
cooperation of Bishops and Archbishops, we have certainly 
veiy little in America. " The impoetance or these Missions 
CANXOT BE ovekestimated," is the testimony borne to us from 
those regions where this kind of work has been fairly tested. 
And may we not trust that the grace vouchsafed our brethren 
across the waters, will yet be poured upon this land ! that ours 
shall be the blessing which comes in the divinely appointed 
gift so soon as that gift is recognized and devoutly employed; 
that here Missions may be multiphed, the ening be converted, 
the Gospel be preached to the poor, the "masses" be reached, 
and the Church made to rejoice in the recoveiy of a priceless 
gift. 

Conscious of numerous defects, our object has, however, 
been only to say in a plain way what we have said, meanwhile 
collating such facts and authorities as we conveniently could 
in support of our position. 

Our most grateful acknowledgements are due the Eight Rev- 
erend, the Bishop of Central York, to several clerical brethren, 
and to one dear friend of the laity especially, by whom we have 
been encouraged in the pubhcation of this volume. But such 
as it is, and humbly praying it may be attended by the Divine 
blessing, it is now committed to the hands of our brethren of 
the Church of the Living God. 

Advent, 1873. 



i 



INTRODUCTION. 



By the Rt. Rev. K D. Enntinrjfoiu D, />., Bhliop 

of Central New York. 

A thoroiigli faith in the thing he pleads for, a personal knowl- 
edge of it, and a hearty desire to make it serve the Gospel and 
Kingdom of our Lord in extending taith and righteousness 
among men, are among the qualifications that seem to me to 
entitle the writer of this book to send it forth among men. I 
have known him as a friend many years ; he is now a Presby- 
ter in my Diocese ; and I regard him with confidence, es- 
teem and affection. 

If the religious condition of this country is so satisfactory 
that no farther agency is needed to arouse and support its 
spiritual life, to make spiritual interests real and supreme in 
the consciousness of the people, and to bring all classes of 
them to be spiritually nourished and trained in the Church of 
God, then he is wrong, and I am wrong with him. 

The circumstance that two or more minds would not think 
or utter their thoughts, on a great subject like this, in all its 
details, precisely and altogether alike does not seem to me to 
be a reason why they should not unite in an honest endeavor 
to get it fairly before the public for consideration. The prin- 
cipal points in which I suppose myself to agree with the au- 
thor are these : — 



vi Introduction. 

1. That there is a place within the Church Catholic and Apos- 
tolical in America for added instrumentalities. 2. That while 
three orders of Ministers and three only appertain to the Con- 
stitution of the Church, and while by far the greater part of 
ministerial usefulness is found in the Pastorship of settled 
flocks, yet the Pastoral office needs often to be supplemented 
and supported by special services of Missionaries, Itinerants 
and Evangelists. 3. That all such services must be so ordered 
as to violate in no instance or degree our canons or rubrics, or 
the rights of any Rector, and that they should be strictly sub- 
ject, as to appointment, method and regulation, to the author- 
ity ol the Bishop. 4. That they should conform in all respects 
to the genius and spirit as well as the laws of the Church, pro- 
moting reverence as well as earnestness, peace no less than 
progress, order along with activity, and permanent strength as 
the result of any immediate or special effort. 

As I have looked over the proof-sheets of the work, it has 
struck me more and more that it must interest and quicken 
many readers ; and it will certainly furnish important infor- 
mation to not a few among us, in various parts of the land, who 
are inquiring the best way of promoting and carrying on mis- 
sion-work. "Stir up, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful peo- 
ple." 

Syracuse, Nov. 4. 1873. F. D. H. 



CONTENTS. 



Preface, Page iii 

Introduction by Bishop Huntington, v 

CHAPTER I— Tntrodcctoey. 

Aggrecftive Work, 9 

Eusebius and otber athoritles 9 

Addresses by Bps. Whipple, Huntington, Neely, Cummins, East- 
burn, and Remarts by Dr. Washburn, 11 

Church Congress, Leeds, Eug 16 

Evangplj«ts Appointed, 18 

Trained Men Needed, 19 

CHAPTER II.— A Plea for Evangelists. 

The Two-fold Work of the Church, 24 

Two-foid Form of the Ministry, 27 

The Work Defined, 27 

An Age of Indifference following the Absence of Evangelists, 36 

European and English Reformers Evangelists, 38 

The " Masses "—How Reached, 41 

House of Bishop.^ — Testimony of in 1856, 42 

School of the Evangelists— Importance of. 46 

CHAPTER HI.— Practical Difficulties. 

Want of Guaranteed Maintenance, 52 

Fear for the Existing Order of Things, 56 

Church Congress (Eng.) Reports from 57 

" Revivalism," 61 

Perverse Men using the Gift, 65 

The Great Difficulty— a Secularized Cluirc]i, 67 

CHAPTER lY.— A Mission Contemplated. 

Preparation,— Notices, 69 

Sixty Missions in London, Simultaneously, 77 

Prayer with the Divine Promises, 79 

A Novena , 80 

Englisli Bishops recommend a Ten Days Mission, 81 

CHAPTER v.— A Mission with its Methods. 

Two by Two, 83 

A Public Receplioa, S4 

Beginning a Mission, 84 

Mission Service, 85 



viii Contents. 

Bishop of Ripon, (Eng.) 85 

Singing, 86 

Sermon— Its Cliaracter and Importance, 88 

The Instrnction ana Meditation, 01 

CHAPTER YI— A Mission avithout An Evangelist. 

The Case Sta ted, 94 

Reasons for Holding Sucli Missions, 96 

The Preacher to be desired, 97 

Pere Nampon 98 

Topics of Sermons, 100 

Length of Services— Example in Iowa, 103 

Extemporary and Mannscript Sermons 104 

CHAPTER VII.— Other Important Constderations. 

1. Personal Contact, not the Confessional— " From House to 

House, " 106 

2. A " Orasade," 112 

3. Class Instruction, 113 

4. Lay -help, 114 

6. Sacraments, 115 

6. Physical Conditions, 115 

7. A Missionary Meeting, 117 

Length of a Mission, 118 

CHAPTER VIII.— Results Organized— The Guild. 

Successful Results, 119 

Live Men, 121 

* ' Imbecile Pulpit, " 122 

An Adamantine Obstacle, 122 

Our Lord's Example, , 122 

5. Francis de Sales, 122 

A Handful of Corn on the Mountains, 123 

Unpromising Communities, 123 

Brotherhoods and Guilds, 124 

" Imperiuin in ImpeiHo,^^ 124 

A Vital Want of the Church Met, 124 

"Young Men will join us," 125 

Suggestions and Plans 125 

Organization, 126 

The Final ' ' Well Done. " 129 

APPENDIX. 

A.— "Parochial Missions," by the Very Rev. Canon Fremantle, 130 

B.— John Wesley, Bp. Wilberforce, and Dr. Hugh Miller Thompson, 142 
C— Forms of Organization 149 



CHAPTER I. 



INTRODUCTORY. 

Aggressive toorh in the Episcopal Church — Eusehi- 
us — Alford — Addresses in Neiv Yorh — Bp, 
Whipple— Bp. Huntington— Bp, Neely—Bp, Cum- 
mins — Bp, Eastburn- — Dr. Washburn — Churcli 
Congress {Eng,) — Evangelists Appointed — Train- 
ed Men needed. 

It is now seventeen years since the attention of 
the Protestant Episcopal Church was called to the 
importance of such Apostolic instrumentalities as 
have for their especial end^ the aggressive work of 
the Church. Nine years later^ the subject was 
again agitated^ and a limited work was accom- 
plished pursuant to this idea. In 1867; at the re- 
quest of a large number of the clergy of Boston and 
vicinity, we published our Plea for Evangelists, 
This we now reproduce, still believing it to be a 
measure of unequaled importance to the Church, 
at the present time. 

Eusebius says of the early disciples, that: — "Af- 
terwards leaving their country, they performed the 
office oi evangelists to those who had not yet heard 
1 



10 Aggressive Worlc. 

the faith, whilst with a noble ambition to proclaim 
Christ, they also delivered to them the books of the 
Holy Gospels. After laying the foundation of the 
faith in foreign parts as the particular object of 
their mission, and after appointing others as shep- 
herds of the flocks, and committing to these the care 
of those that had been recently introduced, they 
went again to other regions and nations, with the 
grace and cooperation of God;'^ 

Alfordsays: Evangelists are "itinerant preach- 
ers, usually sent on some special mission.'' In 
Hook's Church Dictionary W' e read : — " Evangelists. 
Persons chosen of the Apostles to preach the Gos- 
pel. It being impracticable for the twelve only, to 
preach the Gospel to all the w^orld. Philip, among 
others, was engaged in this function. As for their 
rank in the Church, St. Paul places them after the 
Apostles and prophets, but before the pastors and 
teachers, which makes Theodoret call them Apos- 
tles of the second rank : they had no particular 
flock assigned; as Bishops or ordinary pastors, but 
traveled from one place to another, according to 

their instructions received from the Apostles *' 

It is for this primitive work w^e still plead. 

In confirmation of the view^s w^e have here set 
forth, ^NQ have received such witness from the living 
Church as, in the main, leaves no doubt of the cor- 
rectness of our conclusions, or that we have already 
entered upon a period which, though fraught with 
almost unparalleled peril, is nevertheless a period 



Introductory. 11 

of glorious revival. And it is to encourage such as 
have been longing and praying that they might see 
this work within this Church of their hearts, that 
we have put together and now present the facts and 
suggestions of these pages, which may also in some 
sort, serve as a manual of directions for the prose- 
cution of the work. 

In illustration of what we have here intimated, 
and as introductory to this little volume, we may 
here very properly refer to the fact that the employ- 
ment of evangelists has already been warmly in- 
dorsed by not a few of the most earnest and influ- 
ential Bishops and Clergy of the United States.* 

Perhaps, however, nothing will better illustrate 
the spirit of this movement than the follow^ing, 
which we extract from a printed report of a meeting 
in Calvary Church, New York, Oct. 19th, 1868 : 

" Tlie E2oiscopal Evangelization Society. This is 
a society having for its object the evangelization of 
our waste places. The mode by which it purposes 
to. effect this is first and chiefly by sending out a 

*To the Memorials carried up to the General Convention have 
been attached the names of such men as the Rev. Chas. Fay, 
D. D., Eoger S. Howard, D. D., C. H. Seymour, C. F. Knight, 
J. T. Burrill, A. H. Washburn, D. D., F. D. Huntington, D. 
D., now Bishop of Central Nev/ York, Jas. A. Bolles, D. D., 
T. W. Snow, J. I. T. CooHdge, D. D., T. R. Lambert, S. T. 
D., Jas. Cameron, J. A. Wilson, N. H. Schenck, D. D., Geo. 
D. Cummins, D. D., now Assistant Bishop of Kentuckv, E. 
A. Washburn, D. D., Eichard Newton, D. D., J. W. Bonham, 
John Cotton Smith, D. D., Wm. F. Morgan, D. D., Thos. 
Galladet, D. D., Frederick Ogilby, D. D., A. Wiswal, E. N. 
Oliver, D. D., O. W. Whittaker, D. D., now Bishop of Nevada, 
F. Whartou, D. D., A. H. Vinton, D. D., John F. Spaulding, 
T). J)., and others. 



12 Aggressive WorJc. 

class of eflBcient preachers — men in orders — whose 
duty it shall be, to hold mission services for a series 
of days or nights, in halls and elsewhere, in a given 
region or district, and after committing the newly 
formed interest to the care of the Bishop or neigh- 
boring rector, then proceed to a similar work else- 
where. 

"A meeting was held in the interests of this So- 
ciety during the session of the late General Con- 
vention, Monday evening, Oct. 19th, in Calvary 
Church, New York, (the Rev. E. A. Washburn, D. 
D., rector,) at which, after an opening service by 
the Rt. Rev. Bishop Neely, of Maine, an address 
was made by the Rt. Rev. H. B. Whipple, D. D., 
Bishop of Minnesota, who expressed in a very feel- 
ing manner, his deep and hearty interest in the 
work of this Society. He believed the Church 
needed everywhere, and more than everything else, 
the very work proposed by this Society. He was 
sure this was the case in the Diocese of Minnesota. 
Millions of souls were ^oing down to hell, and we 
must do what we can to save them. He wished the 
Society were now prepared to send Evangelists to 
Minnesota. 

" The Rev. F. D. Huntington, D. D., of Boston, 
President of the Society, [now Bishop of Central 
New York,] next explained at some length, the 
character and plans of the Society, urging the 
Apostolic character of the work proposed, and the 
great and crying need of this instrumentality at 
the present time. The facts were, this Church can- 
not put her finger upon a period of great prosperity 
where this instrumentality had not been employed. 
It was said, our present mission force is utterly un-_ 
equal to the needs of our home field, not to say 
anything of foreign lands, and in this view we must 



IntrodtLctory, 13 

use this most Apostolic and time-honored gift of 
the Evangelist, or leave these wide-spread fields to 
the enemy or to desolation. We have left them 
heretofore, simply because we were obliged to; but 
with the well-directed efi'orts of efficient evangel- 
ists, it is certain we can bring the knowledge of 
the Gospel, and the reverent ways and worship of 
the Church to peoples and communities that we 
cannot otherwise reach. It w^as suggested whether 
our present mode of raising and expending the last 
dollar we can, to sustain a missionary in a field, to 
year after year minister to a few families Avhere 
there was hardly the possibility of anything like 
Church-extension, was not quite unlike the way 
that would be dictated by the wisdom of the world ? 
Would it not be wise to use this instrumentality, 
considering the work of the Church in an econom- 
ical point of view ? Would not business men adopt 
just the plan proposed by this society, had they 
the work of the Church to do ? Is it not upon a 
similar plan that politicians act when they under- 
take a great movement? And why should we hesi- 
tate about giving our sympathies and support to 
the work of this Society ? It was also said, we were 
not alone in our judgment with reference to this 
matter. The subject had been under discussion in 
the Church for some time past and it has now come 
to be known that the living men of our Church, 
North, South, East and West, are unanimous in 
their convictions that something of this kind is 
needed to supplement or pioneer our present mis- 
sionary work in this country. 

"The Kt: Eev. II. A. Neely, D. D., Bishop of 
Maine, presented in a very vivid manner, the pres- 
ent and pressing needs of his Diocese. There are 
vast regions, populated by a sturdy, industrious 



n 



14 ■ Aggressive Worh, 

and thinking people who have hardly heard of the 
Protestant Episcopal Church. To think of reach- 
ing these vast regions according to our present 
modes of Church-extension, he regarded as utterly 
impossible; but give us Evangelists, true and ear- 
nest men, men able to go forth and hold protracted 
mission services and preach the Gospel in the pow- 
er of the Holy Ghost, and he believed we would 
see a glorious Church interest spreading all over 
the Diocese. He felt this was precisely the kind 
of labor that Y/as needed in Maine. Evangelists 
he regarded as the proper and Apostolic pioneers 
of the Church in her organized form. His hearty 
desire was that we might be speedily furnished 
with a strong force of able Evangelists. 

"The Et. Eev. Geo. D. Cummins, D. D., Assistant 
Bishop of Kentucky, next followed witTi a most 
happy and effective address in favor of the work 
inaugurated by this Society. It was, in his view, a 
grand move in the right direction. This meeting 
was to him the best part of the Convention. He 
had long felt we needed to have a work carried on 
in the Church, like that proposed by this Society, 
and he hailed with gratitude to God, the fact that 
this work is now taken in hand. He said it was 
the very work which was so blessed in the hands of 
the Wesleys, more than a century ago, but the same 
work needs as much to be done now, and he doubt- 
ed not would be abundantly owned and blessed by 
the Head of the Church. The Episcopal Church, 
he said, was the most learned and refined Church 
in the land, and carried with it an historical pres- 
tige unknown by any Protestant body in America, 
still it was not the Church of the masses ; far from 
it. In its relation to the surrounding bodies, he 
had often thought of the saying of good Bishop 



Introductory, 15 

Chase, that the Episcopal Cliurch was much like a 
sprig of mignonette nnder a pumpkin vine. Evan- 
gelists were just what the Church most needs at 
the present time to make her ways known to all 
people. He would be most happy to welcome a 
band of Evangelists in the Diocese of Kentucky. 

"The Kt. Eev. Manton Eastburn, D. D., Bishop 
of Massachusetts (since deceased), said he vfas most 
happy to add his testimony to the importance of 
the work taken in hand by the Evangelization So- 
ciety. It had been his privilege to know something 
personally of the origin and progress of this work, 
and he believed the fruit had been to the glory of 
God. He regarded it as an efficient method of 
reaching the masses ; and to reach the masses by 
the faithful preaching of the Gospel of the Lord 
Jesus Christ, was the one grand object of this So- 
ciety. While traveling through the Diocese of 
Massachusetts, he had often yearned over the mul- 
titudes of men that it seemed impossible to reach, 
but from his knowledge of the plans of this Society, 
and the work already accomplished, he believed we 
were furnished by it with an instrumentality which 
Avould be found efficient to a degree hitherto un- 
known in our Church, and would be abundantly 
blessed of God. He could commend the work to 
the sympathies and prayers of all who truly cared 
for the work of evangelizing and saving the souls 
of men. 

" Brief remarks were also made by others, the 
Eev. Dr. Washburn adding a concluding word. But 
it would have been difficult for him to add weight 
to what he had said to his own congregation the 
Sunday before, namely, 'that he regarded this as the 
most important movement in the Church since the 
days of Wesley." 



16 Aggressive Work. 

But singularly eiioiigh^, while the hearts of God's 
people were being thus moved to the consideration 
of this subject in this country^ the hearts of faith- 
ful and earnest men were, without any conference 
with Churchmen in America, being simultaneously 
moved with the same inspiring thought in Great 
Britain. 

In the Church Congress held in Leeds, (Eng.) 
1872, the Rt. Rev. the Bishop of Ripon, being called 
to the Chair, the first topic discussed was that of 
" Mission Services.'^ An able paper was read upon 
the subject, by the Rev. Canon Fremantle,* and 
several addresses were made, in which it appears 
that these Missions began in England, about fif- 
teen years before, in St. Martinis Church, Birming- 
ham, *• under the care of Dr. Miller, and were car- 
ried on by two honored friends, the Rev. John 
Ryle, and the very Rev. Dr. McNeil. The move- 
ment gradually spread out into the Westminster 
Abbey and St.* Paul's services, and latterly it has be- 
come embodied in these weekly Parochial Mis- 
sions." We quote the w^ords of the Rev. Canon 
Hoare, who adds: ^-I believe there cannot be a 
doubt that these missions have been blessed by 
God ;" asking withal, — ** Do we not want an order of 
Evangelists, as well as an order of Pastors ?" The 

Sev. W. D. Maclagan said : ^^ It is an agency 

that has been mightily blessed by God." 



* See Appendix A. 



Introductory, 17 

Kichard W. Gamble, Q. C, Dublin, said:— ^^t 
was the strictness of this rule which drove John 
Wesley away from the Church, and the Church has 
thereby lost thousands upon thousands who might 
have now been within her fold. The Wesleyan 
system of itinerancy is the opposite extreme of the 
parochial system ; they have now been each on trial 
for some ninety years, and while one beginning from 
nothing, and without endowments, has won over 
to its side some four millions of the people of Eng- 
land alone ; the other with all its endowments and 
its social position, has sustained a loss of a like 
number. The time* of this sad experiment should 
now suffice, and a remedy at last be sought for. 
Therefore, in conclusion, I would humbly suggest 
that the Church would now do wisely to consider 
whether some immediate step might not be taken, 
whether itinerancy might not be imported in some 
degree into the parochial system, so that all classes 
of people might be effectively reached by the minis- 
trations of the Church, and this hemorrhage which 
is draining her life blood at last be staunched.'^ * 

We confess to the possibility of being too san- 
guine in our anticipations with reference to this 
work. It must be remembered we are recovering 
from a long continued torpor ; a condition in which 
we have long grieved and quenched the Spirit 

*By the last census, it was shown that the Methodists in 
the United States had sittings for between five and six millions, 
and the Protestant Episcopal Church for about eight hundred 
thousand. 

1* 



18 Aggressive Worh, 

which, while seeking to work in channels of Divine 
appointment, has perhaps more often been manifest- 
ed among the prophets of Samaria than among the 
prophets of Jernsalem. A fact that may be continu- 
ed to the end. And so too, although God will at 
the last " cut short His work in righteousness" — a 
work that may be speedily accomplished — still He 
will never make haste according to the caprice of 
man. A^id yet we do believe there are already pre- 
monitions of tlie grace ready to fall upon the Lord's 
heritage in this land, although the cloud discovered 
be "no larger than a man's hand." Is not the sound 
of " a going in the top of the mulberry trees," a 
token to Israel that the Lord has gone forth to the 
battle? 

At a meeting of the General Convention, in 
Philadelphia, 1865, a clerical deputy from Texas, 
said: "I have been longing and hoping to see this 
work for twenty years." The day following, a dis- 
tinguished presbyter from New Jersey, said: "I 
have been longing and praying that I might see 
this work in the Episcopal Church, for twenty 
years, and will do all I can to help it on.'' 

Already Evangelists have been commissioned in 
the Dioceses of Massachusetts, Central N"ew York, 
Iowa, and in Virginia, while in other Dioceses the 
subject is being discussed. It is not impossible 
that in this v/ork may yet be found a key to the 
undefined but felt wants of our much talked of 
American Cathedral System. Could the American 



Introductory, 19 

Church adopt soiiiething like the See system, and 
hjjve for Bishops men thoroughly alive to the ag- 
gressive work of the Church, and v/ho for Chap- 
ters should have severally a staff composed chiefly 
of trained Evangelists, instead of men who with 
foreign titles would yet be little more than figure- 
heads for an imposing and beautiful service, who 
would not say, that, instead of mediaevalism, we 
would have a system which, while eminently suited 
to American ideas, would be as eminently Apostol- 
ic ! — Apostles with their bands of helpers, who 
should be to them what St. Timothy and St. Titus 
were to the apostle St. Paul I Cathedrals which 
should be indeed centers of Church life. And v/ho 
could calculate the grand results which such a sys- 
tem thoroughly worked would inevitably secure to 
the American Church ! 

Still it must be remembered that men educated 
and long accustomed to the quiet of pastoral life, 
are not likely to be the men best qualified to lead 
an army. And it is very much to be feared that 
where there may be even a very deej) sense of the 
importance of this work, there may be the most 
unhappy failures for want of men having the special 
training which we conceive to be important to suc- 
cessful efforts in this direction. Knowing as we 
do, the course of things in the Church of Eome, 
and also among the various denominations of the 
Protestant world, we are of the settled conviction 
that for the immediate and successful accomplish- 



20 Aggressive IVorl: 

ir.i'iit of this work in the Protestant Episcopal 
(■hiii-ch, it will, by all means, be found the bettor 
way to organize and train a band of men who shall 
be wholly devoted to this department of Church 
Avork.* Tliis band may find its work typified in 
the work of St. John in the wilderness, in the cry 
of Repentance, and, Behold the Lamb of God! so 
making ready the way for the coming of the Lord, 
in His Second Advent. 

Out of this deep and abiding conviction, we 
have said what we have. But for this conviction, 
we could well afi'ord to rest in the certainly very 
comfortable pursuit of pastoral duty. But, so long 
as the great out-lying masses are perishing at our 
very doors without God, and without hope — as yet 
unreached by the Gospel; so long as we know that 
pride, ambition and lust, Avith the scramble after 
wealth, are sapping the very foundations of practi- 
cal godliness ; so long as we know that the increase 
of crime is greater than is the increase of our pop- 
ulation ; and so long as we know that a specious 
and yet subtle skepticism is becoming wide-spread 
and popular; and, most of all, knowing as we do, 
that God's owii appointed instrumentality for the 
aggressive work of the Church, is being left^ — if 
not condemned — yet for the most part is suffered 



*Oa,ll tliis an Associate Mission at Large, or, if preferable, 
a ^'Wesleyan Band"— since it is really the work which Wes- 
le}' proposed, and really as he proposed it, that is to say, a 
work having for its object the glory of God within the Church. 
See Appendix B. 



Introductory, 21 

to remain in cold neglect — how can we, how dare 
we rest short of anything and everything which 
lies in our power to do for the furtherance of this 
work ! How can the Church rest as she does ! 
Nay, how dare she rest in her cushioned pews, all 
unmindful of neighbors already in the hands of 
unbelieving robbers ! 

How can our young men contemplating the min- 
istry think of coming from their seminary to shut 
themselves up to minister, it may be, for a lifetime 
to only a "select few," Sunday after Sunday mount- 
ing their beautiful pulpits and benevolently, per- 
haps we should say religiously wondering why the 
world doesn't come in and be converted — forgetful 
of the fact that these pews are let; — that the mul- 
titudes outside know nothing and care nothing for 
this beautiful service of worship, and have, it may 
be, no faith in the God who is worshipped here ; — 
forgetful of the fact that these men must be con- 
verted and made to believe in God, if they would 
properly worship Him ; — forgetful of the example 
of Him who gave them commission, but himself 
preached not only in the beautiful Temple, and in 
the Synagogue, biit also on the mountain and by 
the seashore ! 

How can those having command of wealth, — by 
whose exertions we might in a brief time, place at 
least a small band of men whose hearts are a-fire 
with the evangelic flame, in every Diocese where 
our bishops are to-day asking for them, — how, we 



22 Aggressive WorL 

ask, can such men rest on tlieir pillows a-niglits, 
while withholding their offerings and nsing their 
Avealth for self-aggrandizement or for pleasures 
which they do not need ! 

How can all this be, with but one life here to 
live, and that so brief, the grave gaping, the Judg- 
ment of the Great Day so near, and an eternal life 
to gain or to lose ! 0, Church of God, how can 
these thiugs be ! 

But be this our labor and toil till we have finish- 
ed our course, or until the Gospel shall be every- 
where effectually preached to the breaking down 
the kingdom of sin, Satan and death — and until it 
shall appear that this branch of the Church is in- 
deed marshaled beneath the banner of Him who 
hath gone forth "conquering and to conquer/' 

And let those who have this work at heart pray 
and labor for it. Pray for the establishment and 
recognition of the Apostolic work of evangelists. 
Labor for the institution of missions — ask for them, 
seek them ; if possible find such as will join in 
procuring and sustaining them. For Zion's sake 
hold not thy peace, and for Jerusalem's sake rest 
not "until the righteousness thereof go forth as 
brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that 
burnetii." Until then we say with the Rt. Eev. the 
Bishop of Central New York : * 



*Oonvention Address, 1873. 



Introditctory, 23 

''But most of us, I belieye will never be sat- 
isfied, and never rest, until by any instruments 
that God^s Word, and Providence, and Spirit have 
offered to our hands, the fires and winds of new 
Pentecosts burn and blow along these frigid and 
stagnate waters around us." 



CHAPTER 11. 



A PLEA FOR EVANGELISTS. 

The tioO'fold worh of the Cliurch — two-fold form of 
the Appostolic mmistry — Evangelisf s ivorh de- 
fined — The name not important — An age of indif- 
ference folloioed the absence of Evangelists — St. 
Patrich, Gallns, Winifred., Ansgar, Otto., and 
the Great English Reformers Evangelists — Reach- 
ing the masses — The Parochial system intact — 
Pulpit Oratory — The School of the Evangelists. 

The work of the Church is two-fold in character, 
having, like its divine Author and Head, its two 
phases — its divine and its human. And these, so 
far from being either accidental or unnecessary, 
must be constantly recognized in order to a right 
conception of the nature of the Church or of 
Church-work. Regarded in its human aspect only, 
the Church becomes humanitarian and Pharisaic ; 
and, regarded in its divine nature alone, we are lost 
in the contemplation of God and cease to feel the 
sympathy of our divine Master for our perishing 
race, for whom He was content to be betrayed and 
crucified. But studying the Church in her two- 



A Pica for Evangelists. 25 

fold character we have her, on the one hand^ min- 
istering unto the Lord, as a holy priesthood, (Acts 
xiii., 2, XeirovpyovvrGDv. Heb. x., 11,) and on the 
other, ministering unto men, as the light of the 
world. In the first she is fulfilling that priestly 
work in which she is one with her ascended Lord. 
In this she offers to God acceptable worship, the 
sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, pleading con- 
stantly before Him the one sacrifice and oblation 
make by Christ for the sins of the Avhole world. 
(Eom. XV. 16, 'lepovpyovvra, 1 Cor. xii. 27, Heb. 
vii. 12.) And so also, we offer unto God our bod- 
ies as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable unto 
Him through Jesus Christ. (Rom. xii. 1, Heb. xiii. 
15-16.) This is the contemplation of the Church 
in her divine aspect, as constituting the mystical 
body of Christ, "the fullness of Him that filleth all 
in all." And hence "Is it not written, My house 
shall be called of all nations the house of prayer?" 
Drawing near to God, He draws near to us. This 
is the light in which the Church continually stands 
before God. (Eph. i. 23, St. Mark xi. 17, St. Jas. iv. 

8.) 

But considered in the relation which the Church 
sustains to the world, we find her work to consist 
in making known the knowledge of God as reveal- 
ed in Jesus Christ. "This is life eternal that they 
might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus 
Christ whom thou hast sent.'' (Eph. iii. 10, 6ia 
Trj^ eHJiXrjcna^, 1 Tim. iii. 15, St. John xvii. 3.) 



26 Aggressive Work, 

For this reason the one great commission which 
our Lord gave to the Church is contained in the 
words : " Go ye into all the world and preach the 
Gospel to every creature." And again : '^ Go ye 
therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in 
the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the 
Holy Ghost : teaching them to observe all things 
whatsoever I have commanded you." (St. Mark xvi. 
15, St. Matt, xxviii. 19-20.) Hence the ; Church 
is " The light of the world." ^^ As the Father hath 
sent me," said our Lord to his Apostles, '^so send I 
you into the world." (St. Matt. v. 14,5 St. John 
XX. 21.) And in tracing the progress of this thought 
we find that, in the beginning of our Lord's per- 
sonal work on earth. He gathered and commission- 
ed the Apostles, and then proceeded in like man- 
ner to gather and send out His Evangelists. (St. 
Matt. X. 2, 5. St. Luke x. 1.) Yet, inasmuch as 
God would employ all hearts and all hands as work- 
ers together with him in the great moral vineyard, 
we read not only of multiplied forms of ministry 
and spiritual gifts immediately upon the Ascension 
of our Lord, but more than this. Of the Church 

at Corinth we read: ''Ye are our Epistles 

known and read of all men.'' (2 Cor. iii. 2, 3.) Of 
the Church at large, St. Peter says : ^' Ye are a cho- 
sen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, 
a peculiar people, that ye should show forth the 
praises of Him who hath called you out of dark- 
ness into His marvellous light." (1 Pet. ii. 5, 9.) 



A Plea for Evajigelists. 27 

And although, without the recognized unity, the 
mutual interdependence and cooperation of the 
body of Christ (1 Cor. xii. 21), this work can never 
be accomplished as it ought, yet even then it would 
be difficult to determine how it could be accom- 
plished without the divinely-appointed and recog- 
nized ministries of the Church. It is written : 
"He gave some Apostles, and some Prophets, and 
some Evangelists, and some Pastors and Teachers, 
for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the 
body of Christ.^^ (Eph. iv. 11. rov<^ era evayyeX 
Kjta^, rov^ 6a noifxava^.) Our present formula, 
and it is that which comes to us in the historic 
Church, compasses the several ministries in Bish- 
ops, Priests and Deacons. But, be these ministries 
designated by whatever terms they may, the work 
remains the same, two-fold, — that Avhich is with- 
out, — manward, — and that which is within, — or 
heavenward. We have very nearly the same line 
of thought suggested by saying that the work is in 
one direction centripetal, and in the other centrifu- 
gal. In one direction it is God working within, in 
the other we work out. 

And for this two-fold work, we need two distinct 
forms of ministry, the Evangelistic and the Pastor- 
al : the one to carry the Gospel to those that are 
without; and the other to care for, guide, govern, 
and minister to those that are within. (Acts xx. 
28.) The one class are they that plow and sow; 
the other are they who in due time husband and 



28 Aggressive Work. 

gather in the precious fruit. These are they who 
quarry rocks and hew cedar-beams in distant moun- 
tains; while the others are like the artificers that, 
with skillful hands and patient industry, carry on 
the erection and completion of the temple within 
the city. One class may be compared to the King's 
body-guard, and the intrepid men who garrison the 
fortresses and strongholds of Zion ; while the oth- 
ers are the skirmishers and vanguard of the field. 
The one is aggressive, the other is conservative. So 
long as the Church contemplates aggressive work, 
so long she needs the gift of the Evangelist ; and 
so long as she would conserve the interests of 
Christ's Church, so long she needs the Pastoral of- 
fice. But give her the Pastoral only, and you have 
the Church of the Middle Ages, feeling she is 
rich and increased in goods and has need of noth- 
ing (Kev. iii. 17), assuming that all the land is 
hers, although unwittingly she is like a Samson, 
already in the hands of the Philistines. Give her 
the work of the Evangelist only, and you have a 
grasping, vehement and tintempered Methodism, 
which knows and cares little if at all about paro- 
chial work. And when did the Church ever make 
rapid and healthy progress, effectually vindicating 
her claims, and maintaining her position as she 
ought, without both the work of the Evangelist 
and the work of the Pastor ? Let us hope she will 
not long be indifferent to this question. 

It may, hoAvever, be asked, does not this distinc- 



d 



A Flea for Eva7igelists, 29 

tion, giving to the Avork of the ministry this two- 
fold character, disparage, if it does not make null, 
the three orders of the ministry which have been 
found in the Church without interruption since 
the days of the Apostles? We think not. This 
we fail to discover, since what we speak of is not 
necessarily an oflBce, but a work : is rather function- 
al than organic or structural. The work of the 
Evangelist and the work of tlie Pastor have each 
been fulfilled by bishops, by priests, and by dea- 
cons. And it is but just to assume that these sev- 
erally are now in a measure, fulfilling this two-fold 
work. True, a Bishop is a Pastor-in-chief in his 
his own Diocese. The Shepherd Crook is the sym- 
bol of his office. But if you assume that within 
the episcopate is to be found the Apostolate, then, 
we ask, ought the Bishop always to abide within 
his Episcopal Chair — his Cathedra? Is not an 
Apostle one sent of God ? And is it not as much 
his duty to preach to the "regions beyond" (2 Cor. x. 
16), as it is to administer rule within the limits of 
his flock? Did not St. Paul, the great Apostle to 
the Gentiles say : " Christ sent me not to baptize, 
but to preach the Gospel ?'' (1 Cor. i. 17). The 
facts, then, are these: After the Ascension of our 
Lord, all the ministries of the visible Church were 
included and involved in the Apostolate; this was 
the comprehensive and only ministry recognized 
in the Church upon the day of Pentecost. But 
since, in the nature of things, the number of the 



30 Aggressive Work. 

Apostles must remain limited, it was obviously 
necessary that there should be an increase of in- 
strumentalities to carry on the Church's work. 
Hence we are soon informed that they appointed 
Deacons (Acts vi. 3, 6.), and shortly atter are told 
that they ordained Elders or Presbyters in every 
Church (Acts xiv. 23. ). But these, so far from 
being independent in their positions, had their 
root in the Apostolic office which Christ had com- 
missioned in person, and which the Holy Ghost, 
now dwelling in the Church, would not contravene. 
Therefore these several ministries sprang into ex- 
istence only by the appointment and sanction of 
the Holy Ghost dwelling in the Apostles; not to 
supersede nor to emulate the work of the Apostles, 
but rather as dependencies and helpers to them. 
And although authoritatively ordained by Apostles, 
through whom Christ w^ould administer rule and 
guidance to His Church, tliey were to be regarded 
as gifts from Christ, the great chief Shepherd, the 
the*Bishop and Head of the Church. Some were 
Evangelists, and some were Pastors, because, while 
these Churches and the destitute fields surrounding 
them, w^ere all within the jurisdiction of the Apos- 
tles, yet the Apostles could not fulfill in person all 
the duties necessary either for the gathering or 
guidance of the flocks. So that this two-fold divi- 
sion of work, far from being either accidental or 
novel, has its origin in the very beginning of Apos- 
tolic times, and has for its basis wants that cannot 



A Plea for Evangelists, 31 

otherwise be met. Therefore while St. Paul did the 
work of the Evangelist, we find that Timothy was 
required to do the same (2 Tim. iv. 5) ; and also 
that Philip the Deacon, npon going to Samaria, 
did also the same work (^Acts xxi. 8.) Hence the 
assumption that in pleading for the recognition of 
the gift and work of the Evangelist, we are seeking 
to foist a novelty upon the Church is not only gra- 
tuitous but untrue. Let those who talk of Bishops, 
Priests, Deacons, and Evangelists, talk also of 
Bishops, Priests, Deacons, and Missionaries, and 
we have an exact parallel of consistency. 

But let us say, some Bishops,. (more especially 
Missionary Bishops,) some Priests, and some Dea- 
cons are by special gifts, and by eccl 'siastical ap- 
pointment, Evangelists, and some are Pastors, and, 
we ask : Have we not an Apostolic idea crystalized 
into a fact within our own Apostolical Church? 

We then plead for the recognition and acceptance 
of that great Apostolic idea which can never be re- 
alized without the vigorous fulfillment of what is 
termed by St. Paul, "The work of the Evangelist." 
2 Tim. iv. 5). Yea, more : we plead for it as a 
priceless gift from the hand of our ascended Lord, 
Avithout which the Church can never fulfill to com- 
pletion the work appointed her by her divine Head, 
and a work too, which He, longing to do, is, per- 
haps, hindered from, only because His Church 
fails to discern and use as she ought. His own or- 
dained instrumentalitv. 



32 Aggressive Work. 

Let us observe that in speaking of these spiritual 
gifts or ministries, the Apostle does not say, He 
gave some Pastors, and then, as helpers or as a 
complement to the Pastorate, He also gave some 
Evangelists ; but, He gave some Evangelists, and 
then, as if it were necessary to the completion of 
their work, as if to supplement this gift, it is add- 
ed. He gave some Pastors and Teachers. 

But let it be observed that we do not assume 
that there is no fulfillment of the Evangelist's work 
within our branch of the Church Catholic. We 
say distinctly that the spirit of this work is seen 
everywhere ; is wrought into the very soul of the 
Church ; that it is that which, more than anything 
else, fills her with an expansive vitality and gives 
to the Church lier peculiarly Missionary character. 
Yea, more than this : we assume that every man, 
clerical or lay, is doing this work whenever he tru- 
ly "shows forth to men the praises of Him who 
hath called him from darkness into his marvelous 
light." But to say, therefore, that we do not need 
Evangelists, as such, in contradistinction to Pas- 
tors, would, as it seems to us, be much like saying, 
because we, as a Parish, have a Eector, we have, 
therefore, no need of a Bishop; or, vice versa. 
Both administer rule, to be sure, but in different 
measures. So also, while the Pastor preaches and 
makes known Christ, it does not follow that we 
can say to the Evangelist: "We have no need of 
thee," for if the Pastor makes known Christ, much 



A Plea for Evcmgelists, 33 • 

more does the Evangelist. It is his to go to those 
^Hhat are without/' to whom the Gospel of the Son 
of God, properly expounded, shall be as news in- 
deed. The Evangelist's should be preeminently 
the ofHce of preacher ; and that in special fulfill- 
ment of the command: "Go ye into all the world, 
and preach the Gospel to every creature.'^ This 
the Bishop cannot do alone; and this the Pastor 
should not do ; for, instead of "going/' it is the 
Pastor's duty to abide as a faithful shepherd witli 
his flock. 

In order to the most rapid and effectual accom- 
plishment of this work give us Apostolical Evan- 
gelists. Men who are true and loyal to Christ and 
the Church : who, by their intellectual and spiritu- 
al furnishing shall be as polished shafts from the 
quiver of God ; and who, relieved of all parochial 
care and pecuniary want, shall simply have for 
their work the going everywhere and preaching, 
out of fall souls, "Jesus and the Resurrection. " 

Let us picture to ourselves a man in the fulfill- 
ment of such a work. He enters a town a stranger. 
He feels keenly the utter absence of sympathy, but, 
making a virtue of necessity, he accepts the condi- 
tion as helpful to personal self-denial. His services 
have been duly advertised and the people come, 
many, perhaps the chief part of them, simply with 
a view to hear a stranger; and finding nothing pe- 
culiarly suited to their morbid taste, they shortly 
see and hear all they desire and make room for otli- 
2 



34 Aggressive Worh, 

ers the next niglit. A congregation gathers^ liow- 
eyer, and now comes the test : — Can this stranger, 
Avithout catering to the perverted taste of our com- 
munities, can he by a candid and faithful procla- 
mation of Christ's Gospel so far secure their atten- 
tion as to bring them out despite their many excuses, 
night after night ? If he fail in this, he fails utterly 
as an Evangelist for our times; and if, for vrant of 
either talents or grace, he consents to prostitute the 
Church of God, and degrade his high and holy 
calling by pandering to the depraved appetite of a 
community whose chief desire is "to hear or to tell 
some new thing,*' he forfeits his standing in the 
Church of God. But let us suppose him equal to 
the work. Night after night he preaches, and as fre- 
quently offers ghostly counsel to such as may feel 
that with a burthened conscience they long for rest 
in Christ. But night after night the people listen, 
and leave. Not discouraged, he bovrs himself in his 
chamber and pleads the promises of God. He 
strengthens himself with the immutable assurance : 
'' My word shall not return unto me void ; it shall 
accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper 
in the thing whereto I sent if (Isa.lv. 11). He be- 
lieves it, and staying himself upon the promises of 
his God, and fully conscious of the dignity and power 
of the message he bears, he gives himself to the 
work before him with the moral might of a Samson. 
There is no levity, and no vociferous rant. All is 
serious, solemn, and earnest. And now his con- 



1 



A Plea for Evangelists. 35 

gregation sits spell-bound, chained and charmed by 
the words of his lips. And among those of his 
congregation some feel, for the first time in their 
lives, the truth of the saying : " The words that I 
speak unto you, they are Spirit and they are life," 
(St. John yi. 63), and that the Gospel "is the pow- 
er of God unto salvation to every one that believ- 
eth." (Rom. i. 16). He now feels in his own soul 
the earnest of a moral victory. From this point of 
time his congregation steadily increases in numbers 
and in interest. His own soul is now constantly 
girded not only by faith and prayer, but by a pecu- 
liar inspiration in the upturned faces and tearful 
eyes of a dense congregation that he feels are hang- 
ing, it may be, their eternal interests upon the 
teachings he now imparts. The people cluster 
around him before and after public services begging 
for his counsel and his prayers. Having instructed 
them in the faith, he begins to teach them the im- 
portance of prayer and worship. (St. John iv. 23.) 
To the joy of his soul, and, we believe, to the joy 
of angels too, (St. Luke xv. 7, 10), he now, night 
after night, hears the accents of new voices joining 
in the humble Confession of Sin, and in the pray- 
ers and praises of the Church of the Redeemer. 
Tlie congregation is in his hands like wax, and he 
moulds and shapes it to his will. The doctrines, 
sacraments, and worship of the Church are not only 
laid before them, but wrought into their hearts. 
And being baptized, they are committed to the 



36 Aggressive JVorJc. 

Bishop for the Apostolic rite of laying on of hands. 
(Acts xix. 6 ; Heb. vi. 2). A Rector is procured. A 
Church is built, and henceforth there is found a 
living witness for the truth, and a spiritual temple 
built unto the Lord. This is the kind of work for 
which we plead. This we call '^ The work of an 
Evangelist.'^ 

The same gift may perhaps in these times be as 
profitably used among parishes falling into decay, 
but the nature of the work remains the same ; it is 
the divinely instituted instrumentality for reaching 
those that are without, and making known to them 
the knowledge of God in Christ. It is a work 
which in its fulness the Pastor cannot do; and 
therefore, in the absence of Evangelists, must re- 
main without being done to any considerable ex- 
tent. Hence, whenever and wheresoever the Church 
has prospered most, then and there it will be found 
she has used most faithfully the gift of the Evan- 
gelist. When Evangelists, or those fulfilling this 
work — for about the title we do not so much care 
— when they have fallen into disrepute, then there 
has supervened an elegant and refined age, it may 
be, but an age of cold and stupid indifference to 
Church worki It was thus whenever and wherever 
the Papacy flourished best before the Eeformation. 
It was doubtless a state of things inseparable from 
the Papal system. The Pope, though lawfully only 
a Bishop, became the Pontifex Maximus, a king 
priest. Thereupon the Bishops were made Lord 



1 



A Plea for Evangelists, 37 

Bishops. Thence we have the spirit that made the 
common clergy surround themselves with that rec- 
torial authority which, within the precincts of their 
own parishes, made them as independent as were 
the barons of their own times in their castles or the 
Lord Bishops in their Dioceses or cathedrals. 
There was something grand in this arrangement, 
something which comported well with men's con- 
ceptions of the dignity of the Church. For it was 
an easy matter for men to yield the highest honors 
which they could confer on that which among men 
they honored most, and that was the Church. And 
to make this legitimate, it was quite as easy to 
transfer all the honors belonging to the kingdom 
of David, with its cities, bulwarks and palaces, by 
a figure of speech, to the kingdom of grace. But 
the mischief in such a transfer consisted in the 
fact that it entailed upon the Church a temporal 
power which does not belong to her during the 
present dispensation. Or, if only morally consid- 
ered, then it amounts to no less than a perversion, 
since all ex parte exhibitions of Christianity are, 
when disintegrated from the body to which they 
belong, no less than monstrosities, whether found 
within or without the Church. To this system 
belonged most consistently that Anti-Christian 
and selfish spirit which seeks its own and not the 
things which are Christ's. (1 Cor. x. 24; Phil. ii. 
21). This made the Bishops and Rectors practical- 
ly indifferent to almost all interests lying outside 



38 Aggressive Work, 

their own limited jurisdictions. Then there was 
little known of a Missionary spirit in the Church. 

But it was not so with the Apostles and Martyrs. 
With them their highest earthly ambition was to 
make known to men the knowledge of Christ Je- 
sus our Lord ; for vv^hich knowledge, they counted 
all else as but loss and dross. (Phil. iii. 7, 8). 
Hence, wherever Apostles went, they went not only 
as centres of churchly authority, but they were to 
the communities to which they went, first of all, as 
centres of grand Evangelistic movements having 
for their end the promotion of the divine glory by 
the faithful proclamation of the Gospel of Christ. 
And who needs that we should tell the story of 
their success, how everywhere the Word of God 
was effectually preached and the Church of the 
Eedeemer extended with a rapidity unparalleled in 
the annals of time ? What student of history needs 
to be told that, despite the perversions of Rome, it 
was by this overflowing and yearning Christian 
zeal of individuals that the Church was planted at 
the first in England, as also in Ireland by St. Pat- 
rick, by Gallus in Switzerland, by Winifred or 
Boniface, still known as the father of the German 
Church in Germany, by ^Ansgar in Scandinavia, 
and by Otto in Pomorania ? And who does not 
know that this was the gift so helpful to the Church 
during the English Eeformation ? 

And now we say, give to the Church again the 
gift of the Evangelist : this precious and priceless 



A Plea for Evangelists. 39 

gift wliicli Christ liath bequeathed to His spouse, 
the Church, and how manifest and great the bless- 
ings that must follow ! (Eph. iv. 8). 

We fail, it may be, to appreciate this form of 
ministry. Let us break down and cast away from 
us the Pastoral Office, and how fearful the conse- 
quences that would follow I but are we not in the 
exact line of Apostolic teaching when we say that 
Evangelists are placed before Pastors? Let them 
be placed again in the Church. Let every Bishop 
have a staff of Evangelists ; let him take them with 
him in his journeyings; let him send them where 
he cannot often go himself. Let them go out on 
every great thoroughfare ; let them compass every 
out-lying region, and penetrate every centre of civ- 
ilization hitherto unreached by the Church. Let 
them rally to the defence of the Church at every 
point threatened by die enemy. In fine, let every 
community, every neighborhood, and, were it pos- 
sible, every family within the Diocese, be made to 
know and feel the Church's love of souls and pow- 
er in Christ's name to bless and save, and who can 
measure the good that would result to men and the 
• glory that would be given to God ! Christ has 
personally ascended to the right hand of the 
Father, and from thence we look for Him to come 
to judge the quick and the dead. But spiritually 
He is ever presei>t with His Church. (St. Matt, 
xxviii. 20 ; Rev. i. 13). He is still the one like un- 
to tlie Son of Man seen walking amidst the seven 



40 Aggressive ]Yorl:, 

golden candle-sticks. But of this spiritual presence 
the world is wholly unconscious, and in this un- 
consciousness of spiritual death it must remain un- 
til the Church, filled with the Spirit of Christ, shall 
l^lace her own beating heart by the hearts of the 
spiritually dead. How shall she do this in a com- 
munity estranged from the Church, but by the 
preaching of the "Word, by the ministry of the 
Evangelist? Is it not written: '-'It hath pleased 
God by the foolishness of preaching to save them 
that believe ?'' (1 Cor. i. 21). AVe say then, let ev- 
ery Diocese have its Evangelists. In a large Dio- 
cese, if large Dioceses we must have, let those in 
remote regions be placed under a Dean, or, if that 
term be intrinsically objectionable, let them be un- 
der a discreet man having a measure of delegated 
power from the Bishop, whose business it shall be 
to oversee this work. Then, with such an organiz- 
ed and centralized system, thoroughly worked, who 
c:ui calculate the glow of spiritual life that would 
inevitably result to the Church of God I Was it 
not so of old? Have we not heard vrith our ears, 
and have not our fathers declared unto us the no- 
ble works which the Lord accomplished in their 
day and in the old time before them ? Do we in- 
quire wisely, in that we ask why were the former 
days better than these days? (Eccl. vii. 10 j. Is 
the Lord less willing to raise up His power and 
come amongst us and with great might succor us ? 
And are not our needs as 2:reat as were theirs ? Are 



A Flea for Evangelists. 41 

not these times of fearful moment to the world, 
times when great questions are struggling to the 
birth, when infidelity is rampant and prophetical 
tokens are seen everywhere admonishing the Church 
that the "perilous times" of the last days are upon 
her ? (St. Luke xxi. 25-8 ; 2. Tim. iii.) Shall she 
not watch, and pray, and work with increasing 
vigilance now ? 

We talk of reaching the masses, but is not the 
way, the one and only direct way, already indicated? 
Is it not by reaching the popular ear first ? And 
how can this be done by the Church, except by 
sending to. these hard-headed but often honest- 
hearted men preachers, who, suiting their address 
to their congregations, can command the attention, 
and wrestling with their unbelief, can, in God's 
name, discomfit and rout the foe ? For this work, 
we say, Give us Evangelists. Or again. If we 
Avould determine how we can reach and move the 
masses, then let us observe how others reach and 
successfully move them. How do politicians move 
whole communities ? How do the Romanists, with 
their Redemptorists and Paulists, reach and move 
communities ? How do Methodists reach them ? 
And when we have answered these questions, then, 
and not until then, let us despair of success in this 
work. We say it can be done. Lo, the field is 
already white unto the harvest ! And what shall 
hinder us ? True, we have not in any very satis- 
factory degree done this, but it does not follow 
3* 



42 Aggressive Work, 

that we cannot do it. Here, at our doors, in every 
community, are multitudes of perishing men. 
With our Parochial System we do not reach them 
in the manner they need to be reached. 

The solemn question for us now to determine is, 
Shall we leave them a prey to every ranting and 
jabbering spirit that. Evangelist-like, goes up and 
down the land, v/ithstanding the truth by ingenious 
counterfeits, as Jannes and Jambres withstood Mo- 
ses? (2 Tim. iii. 8). Or shall we, with the love 
and pity of Christ, who dv/ells in the Church, and 
whose Spirit we trust v^e have, preach as He, our 
blessed Exemplar did to the multitudes on the 
Mounter by the sea-shore (St. Matt. xv. 29-38) ; 
or, like a Paul at Mars Hill (Acts xvii. 22) ; or, 
like a Philip to tlie Eunuch by the way? (Acts 
viii. 35). Judge, Vv^e pray you, Does the Protestant 
Episcopal Church need Evangelists, or does she 
not ? You are not unmindful of the fact that in 
the General Convention of 1856, commissioners 
from the House of Bishops consisting of Bishops 
Jas. H, Otey, G. W. Doane, Alonzo Potter, George 
Burgess and Jno. Williams reported concerning 
this subject; and, amongst other things said of 
Evangelists, — ^'Such a corps of active laborers 
seems almost indispensable to the complete organ- 
ization of the Church, according to the primitive 
model and unquestionably necessary to its exten- 
sion in our land." I^eed we repeat, in this place, 
the fact that not a few of our large-hearted and 



A Plea for Evangelists, 43 

most earnest Bishops, and many of the leading 
Clergy of our land are earnestly desiring to see this 
Apostolic form of ministry recognized and estab- 
lished in our beloved, our Catholic and Apostolic 
Church, not as a novelty, nor as an instrumen- 
tality that necessarily involves any thing erratic 
or irregular, but as permanently filling up and 
fully representing our Apostolic order — Bishops, 
Priests, and Deacons, and, within this ministry, 
as at the beginning: ^'*Some Evangelists, and some 
Pastors and Teachers?" (Eph. iv. 11).* 

But admitting the desirableness of this form of 
ministry, the question then arises : How are v/e to 
procure willing and competent men for this work ? 
That such laborers are desired, not merely in fancy 
but in fact, we have the most positive assurance. 
In our Diocese there are at this present moment 
more doors open and more requests for this kind of 
labor already made than could be filled by four 
men were they wholly given up to this work. We 
refer to Massachusetts. There ought to be half a 



* * ' In almost every body of Christians, except our own and 
the somewhat ''crystallized" Greek Church, the fact is recog- 
nized that preaching is an art, which like other arts requires 
for its perfect mastery a like devotion. We have already a few 
instances among ourselves of priests who are able to give up, 
in spite of our rules, their lives to this work : why can there 
not be some organization, authorized by authority, whereby 
others should, if proved to be capable, be encouraged to "go 
and do likewise, ' ' and the work of an evangelist might thus 
become an accepted office in our branch of the Church of 
God." —London Church Beview, in The C/mrch Eclectic for Oc- 
tober, 1873. 



■±4: Aggressive Woi'Jc, 

dozen men of this sort^ having their headquarters 
in Boston to-day. Of other Dioceses, not a few, we 
have personal knowledge, that are waiting and 
longing to employ this form of ministry. The 
question, How can we procure the men ? is a ques- 
tion of no small importance. It is now more than 
ten years since the Rt. Eev. Commissioners appoint- 
ed by the House of Bishops formally pronounced 
upon this subject declaring the Evangelist's work 
a sine qua non to the progress of our Church in 
this land, and still we have to ask for the men. 
How can we procure the men for which the Church 
so earnestly longs and prays ? A distinguished 
Presbyter said in a letter Avritten during his absence 
from the city on vacation last summer: "We have 
now evidently come upon a most extraordinary state 
of things. God is answering the prayers we have 
been putting up to Him, some of us, all of us per- 
haps — by throw^ing doors wide open in all parts of 
the Diocese, before the old Churchmen — measuring 
their ideas of duty by the old standards — are at all 
prepared for the new blessing. During the sum- 
mer I have been finding out stations where there 
was a remarkable and serious readiness to welcome 

our services I have received information which 

plainly shows that eight or ten preachers of the 
Gospel in the Church are wanted for the Mission- 
ary field in this Diocese, this week I "What shall 
we do ? Day and night I ache under that question. 
I wonder if we who have Parishes ought not to 



A Plea for Evangelists, 45 

leave tliem and go off half the time to preach Christ 
in these destitute places. May God guide us I" 

This suggestion^ realized in a practical way, 
might help very much towards determining the 
question before us. But will those of us who have 
parishes "leave them and go off half the time to 
preach Christ in these destitute places ?'^ Indeed 
we may ask, can we go thus, and ought we to leave 
our flocks even half the time for this work? It 
may be that, if we had with a true faith, also a suf- 
ficiently lively faith, this question might appear 
in a different light. 

It is also very easy to say : If our Bishops desire 
such laborers they can undoubtedly procure them. 
But this is not saying how they can procure them. 
Furthermore, is it reasonable for us to expect of a 
man, because he is a Bishop in the Church of God, 
that therefore he can do everything ? 

But realizing in some measure the magnitude 
and importance of this question — which we regard 
as second to no other question before the Church 
at the present time — we venture to suggest that, if 
the clergy will take this matter home to their 
hearts, and give it the consideration, and sympathy, 
and support it deserves, there will not long be lack- 
ing either men or means with which to meet this 
urgent demand of the Church. No work is more 
arduous, more self-denying, nor more worthy of 
sympathy; and we believe we may add, where 
rightly fulfilled, no work of the Church is more 



46 Aggressive Worh, 

• 

precious to the heart of the Divine Master ; and 
none can be more to His glory in the present dis- 
pensation. And v^hy the law of demand and sup- 
ply should fail in this more than in other matters 
we cannot perceive. 

If, then, we would not leave this great and wide- 
spread field to the already marshaled hosts of Eome, 
or to the Infidel; and if we feel that the Parochial 
system, though a glorious ministry in itself, has 
yet failed, and in its nature must fail to compass 
the ends we have sought in this direction, then let 
us pray to God for succor, and in Christ's name 
call for Evangelists, 

When the Church desires Missionaries for hea- 
then lands she seeks them, and finds them ; and, 
finding them, she educates and trains them for the 
Missionary work. And now, why should not the 
Church in like manner, seek,^ educate, and train 
men for this special work ? We have our schools 
for educating young men for the ministry, for train- 
ing Missionaries and Deaconesses. Let us now have 
one within our own borders for training Evangelists. 
We are aware of the proverbially eclectic character 
of the American nation, and that to a certain ex- 
tent we must be omniverous. But it is to-day a 
conceded fact, that " the amount of knowledge ap- 
propriate to civilization which now exists in the 
world is more than double, and in many cases more 
than ten-fold what it was about half a century ago, 
and that therefore no individual can expect to 



A Plea for Evangelists, 47 

grasp in the limits of a life-time even an elementa- 
ry knowledge of the many provinces of old learn- 
ing, augmented as they now are, by the vast an- 
nexations of modern discovery/' * With such con- 
siderations our Universities and States are erecting, 
and in some instances are richly endowing here 
and there Institutes of Technology. On the same 
principle we advocate a training school for Evan- 
gelists. In such a school, there should be no lack 
of anything helpful to sacred learning. But in a 
school having in view the training of Evangelists, 
we would have Avith the lore legitimate to the most 
approved Theological Seminary, special attention 
given to the Bible, to that department of system- 
atic Divinity known as Polemic Theology, to Hom- 
iletics, to Logic, to Elocution, to Extemporary 
Address, to Physical Culture, and to the study of 
Human Nature. And all this should be subordi- 
nated to the one purpose of aiding the student in 
the acquisition of that most difficult but grandest 
of arts, the Art of Pulpit Eloquence. To be a good 
Theologian is not enough. To take the position 
required by an Evangelist in the Protestant Epis- 
copal Church, a man must be both a Theologian 
and an Orator. And the province of the Pulpit 
orator is at once the highest and the most difficult 
known to art. It is that sacred Art by which the 
Minister of Christ wins souls; and winning them 



* Dr. J. Bigelow, before the Boston Institute of Technology. 



48 Aggressive Worh, 

begets witliiu them the quickenings of a new and 
siDiritual life, — God working here, as in the proY- 
ince of nature, intermediately. (1 Cor. iv. 15). And 
the more purely spiritual the life imparted, the 
more profound and exquisite the emotions realized 
by both orator and auditory. For in this sweet 
interlinking of mind with mind and heart with 
heart, there is in such a case the assurance that it 
is according to the mind of the Spirit that these 
previously lifeless souls are now wrought into bless- 
ed unity. (Eom. viii. 13; 1 Cor. xii. 13). 

And this transmission of spiritual life is not ef- 
fected by a merely sensible impression, by a mere 
out-pouring of words, or by a burst of passion hav- 
ing for its end, like art in other spheres, simply a 
a temporary satisfaction. But while Pulpit Ora- 
tory has its really artistic or aesthetical phase, it is, 
at last; and more than all else, dependent upon the 
idea it projects — the truth it bears, because it can 
penetrate the soul only through the intelligence. 
It therefore differs from all other arts in that, while 
it contemplates and employs the ideal and the emo- 
tional in man, it also requires for its highest at- 
tainment, the loftiest intelligence, the most vivid 
conception, and the most dexterous and skillful ex- 
hibition of divine truth. It is the idea bound in 
the familiar aphorism, ''From heart to heart/'* — 
specially since its passage is by the way of the head. 
It has been well put, again, by a late divine who 
instructed his students to make their sermons 



A Plea for Evangelists. 49 

"Hot and heavy." For heavy, but lacking in 
warmth, they must fall lifeless and dead; while 
having heat without weight they must simply con- 
sume in their own combustion. 

And it should be the aim of such a school to 
produce, as far as human aid can help to produce 
such a class of preachers, men bearing upon their 
lips the grace of eloquence. 

It may be said of this sublime art, that many 
seek while few attain it. But it must be remem- 
bered that, be the aim of our Theological Semina- 
ries what they may, — and that their aim is high 
and holy none can doubt, — yet none will dispute 
that their graduates usually bear with them the 
honors of Theologians rather than of Orators. How 
could it be otherwise ? And it is furthermore, but 
ftiir to notice that the work of the Parish Priest is 
too multiform and his pulpit sphere too limited for 
him to easily excel in Pulpit Oratory. Whereas, 
the one and only work of the Evangelist is the 
work of the Preacher; and to excel in this work, 
should be the high ambition of every man apply- 
ing for admission to this school of Evangelists. 
Before him will be spread the fairest fields ever 
gazed upon by man ; and without the ambition and 
determination to be an orator in the truest and 
highest sense, there should be no admission. 

Then from this school let the BislfDps furnish 
themselves with a corps of laborers. Let every 
Rector recognize in them, next to his Bishop, 



50 Aggressive Work, 

his own choicest and truest fellow-helpers. Be- 
sides the duties already indicated, in illuminating 
and acquiring for the Church the out-lying and 
neglected regions of our great cities, and our Dio- 
ceses, and helping to resuscitate old and decaying 
Parishes, let any special work be committed to 
them which the Bishop may have in his heart to 
appoint them. Such would be the work of seeking 
out candidates for Holy Orders ; the placing the 
Diaconate in its right position by keeping the idea 
before the people ; the gathering of sisterhoods for 
charitable and Church-work ; and the stirring up 
the Laity everywhere to an increased missionary 
zeal. 

True such a work ought to have the best talent 
the Church can command ; and it would have it. 
And it would, too, be a work involving no small 
expense; but let it be sliovv^n to these calculating 
spirits of our times, as it can be shown, that no 
work ever undertaken by the Church had half so 
much to insure the rich returns of thirty, sixty, 
and a hundred fold, as this, and we are sure means 
will not be lacking. 

And now let us hope, and hoping, let us pray 
that the time may speedily come when He who, as- 
cending into Heaven, "poured down His gifts 
abundantly upon men, making some Apostles and 
some Prophets and some Evangelists, some Pastors 
and Doctors; to the edifying and making perfect 
His Church," will permit us not only to rejoice in 



A Plea for Evangelists. 51 

our Pastors, but that beneath our Episcopal ban- 
ners we may see in this Gospel field " Some Evan- 
gelists, and some Pastors ;" that so, the comforta- 
ble Gospel of Christ may be truly preached, truly 
received, and truly followed, in all places, to the 
breaking down the kingdom of sin, Satan and 
death ; till at length the whole of the dispersed 
sheep being gathered into one fold shall become 
partakers of everlasting life through the merits of 
Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen. 
1867. 



CHAPTER III. 



PRACTICAL DIFFICULTIES. 

Want of guaranteed maintenance — Fear for the ex- 
isting order of things — Reports of the English 
Church Congress — Revivalism — Liaile to aluse 
ly erratic men — Tlie great difficidty a Secularized 
Church, 

Finally resolving upon the work, we then coiiie 
to the hard, practical difficulties which at once rise 
up before us. 

The first is the want of a guaranteed mainte- 
nance. After a ten years discussion of this subject 
and no small experience in the work, we have no 
hesitation in saying we believe a score of clergy- 
men already qualified for this work might be placed 
in the field at once but for this want of anything 
like a suitable or decent provision for the support 
of themselves and families. 

This may seem extraordinary, but upon a 
second thought it is by no means remarkable. It 
is only according to the modes of life common to 
us all. Using the means placed in our hands first, 
we then find ample room for the exercise of faith 



I 



Practical DifficiiUics. 53 

and Biicli an opportunity as a disregard of tlie 
means placed within our reach would not allow. 
No Christian farmer prays for his daily bread with- 
out at the same timxe using the required means 
to obtain it. And because he plows and sows it 
does not follow that he therefore cannot exercise 
the faith and trust in God becoming a Christian. 
And the same rule applies to the workers in the 
field of the Heavenly Husbandman. The work 
proposed is His: the gold and silver are His, and 
why shotild it be regarded as in any sense extra- 
ordinary that those having this work at heart 
should wait until, in Divine Providence, the work 
can be brought to the attention of the Lord's Stew- 
ards and the necessary means be provided ? 

Furthermore, consider that clergymen having 
the gifts peculiar to this kind of work have the 
special qualifications most desirable in the estima- 
tion of our larger and wealthier congregations. So 
that until means can be provided for their support 
it would seem most extraordinary that they should 
contemplate the work even for a moment. 

Then also, it is only fair to consider that usu- 
ally they have resting upon them the duties and 
responsibilities belonging to the domestic relation, 
to disregard which would be no less than disloyalty 
to Christ; a sufficient cause for regarding them as 
disqualified for this work were they never so well 
furnished otherwise. 

But this difficulty can be and will be removed 



54 Aggressive Work. 

so soon as the importance of the work is brought 
home to the heart of the Church. Then with a 
Central home provided and such an endowment as 
is necessary to the school of the Evangelists, Avith 
the understanding that the offerings of congrega- 
tions may be received for current and contingent 
expenses, this obstacle will disappear. With one 
central house, each Diocese desiring to avail itself 
of the permanent abode of one or more of the 
brethren, might provide a home for such within its 
own jurisdiction. Or possibly some person of 
ample means might make such provision, while the 
Diocese might take the current expenses incident 
to the work into the account of its legitimate mis- 
sionary work.'^ 

The amount necessary for each man should be 
equal to the amount which the same man would 
ordinarily receive were he engaged in parocliial 
work. Eationally considered anything less would 
be to take from him and his not only the time and 
comforts which othervvase he like other men might 
realize in the family and home circle, but also the 
material support which he and they of his house 
have a right to demand. 

But this matter has already been so far dis- 
cussed and the public sentiment of the Church in 
this country is already so far matured that we are 
persuaded the necessary means for this work can- 



* See Bp. Wilberforce and Dr. Kugli Miller Thompson. Ai^- 
pendix B. 



Practical DiffictiUies. 55 

not long be wanting. N"ot only is there coming to 
be a large demand for faithful and well furnished 
men for this work, men who with God's help are 
capable of successfully conducting mission services 
both w^ithin and without our established parishes, 
but there is a prospect that the Church will not 
long consent to accept young men as qualified for 
the ministry, however rich their intellectual fur- 
nishing, if it so be that they cannot read and speak 
their native language acceptably. And a school 
particularly necessary to the preparation of young 
men (Deacons and candidates for Orders) for this 
work — a School of Oratory — will be of the first 
demand in the Church in this country. And we 
do not hesitate to say that, in this age of lavish 
wealth, where millions of money can be produced 
for great expeditions some of which have not the 
remotest relation to commerce or the practical 
wants of life — as we once heard Dr. Hayes confess 
with reference to our Polar expeditions, — and when 
instead of our old University systems with colleges 
for classical learning and the leading professions of 
life we have special fiiculties for almost everything, — 
as for example in Cornell University where there are 
not less than nine or ten distinct schools from either 
one of which a student may graduate as he may 
himself elect, — where such is the appreciation of 
the special needs of community, we cannot believe 
that any well defined scheme looking to tlie pro- 
motion of the most vital needs of the Cliurch and 



56 Aggressive WorJt, 

felt wants of a great community can long remain 
uncared for : neglected by the Lord's Stewards to 
whom nothing is so sacred as are the interests of 
Christ and His Church. 

" He is dead whose hand is not opened wide 

To help the need of a human bi'other ; 
He doubles the life of his hfe-long ride, 

Who gives his fortunate place to another ; 
And a thousand million lives are his, 

Who carries the world in his sympathies. 
To deny 
Is to die." 

Another objection is that such a work will inter- 
fere with the existing order^ of things and produce 
more harm than good. 

Admitting that this objection might sometimes 
take on the semblance of truth, still with the exist- 
ing state of things it is difficult to see how it can 
be urged with the least effect. The Church is en- 
yironed with Canon law and guarded at every 
point. The distinction made between the regular 
and secular clergy of mediaeval times cannot be 
recognized by a Constitutional Church like our 
own. And then again, it is to be remembered that 
the sole object of such a work is to produce spir- 
itual quickening, so making ready the way of the 
Lord by the preaching of the Gospel; this, and this 
only. And when it can be shown that the Protest- 
ant Episcopal Church of America, is, in all her de- 
partments. Missionary and Parochial, so thoroughly 
alive as to preclude the necessity of such agencies 



Practical Difficulties. 57 

and forms of ministry as are of Apostolic origin, 
then and not till then will this objection find 
weight with the people. 

But it w^onld perhaps be difficult for us to make 
more effectual reply to these objections than is 
made by the following reports of this kind of work 
in England as found in Eeports of the Church 
Congress of 1868, and again in 1870. Only it 
should be remembered that in England, these mis- 
sions are of necessity almost always held in 
Churches. In one of these reports it is said: 
" First of all, they teach the meaning and power of 
prayer. By gathering our people together in little 
groups for wrecks before the time of the Mission, 
and teaching them to pray earnestly that God 
would send forth His Holy Spirit to work in the 
parish, and through those who shall be sent there 
to preach the Gospel, men and women who have 
long lived in outward conformity with the Church 
have learned to find a power in prayer which they 
had little expected, and to believe truly that God 
is the hearer and answerer of prayers. There is no 
power so mighty for gathering in the outcasts of 

our population as the abundance and 

strengtli of the spiritual life of our own people ; 
and the priest will find his best efforts compara- 
tively fruitless, if he is left without that upholding 
which he has a right to expect from his people by 
the power of their prayers. Again, there is for the 
most part a dreadful barrier of reserve that sepa- 
3 



5 8 Aggressive Work, 

rates our people from their pastors; and it hai 
been the almost unfailing fruit of these Missiom 

that that barrier has been broken down 

Lastly, I would speak of one — perhaps the mosi 
important of all results that follow upon such mis* 
sions — and that is, the drawing together of mei1 
Avho are looking at God's truth from different side.; 
and points of view, and uniting them together in 
work in which it is impossible that their difference: 
can be remembered. The teaching them (and it 
is surely a blessed experience when Ave have 
learned it), that there is a higher atmosphere of 
spiritual life in Avhich their diflFerences all vanish 
in the light and love of God, is surely a blessed 
work of inestimable value/' * 

Again. From a report of the Church Congress 
held in Southampton (Eng), it was said of a mis- 
sion in AYhitney : ^^Our first difficulty was this: 
Many respectable people, for reasons which I need 
not specify, said, 'We are perfectly content with 
our parochial clergy, and we think it an insult to 
them to request any extraneous aid.' If we replied 
that we were utterly unconscious of the supposed 
insult; that we needed the aid of the Mission Priests, 

and that we had the approval of our Bishop 

they stuck to the same argument, and said they 
w^ere content with what they had. Well, my lord, 
they may have been content, but we were not, and 



* Report Ch. Congress, 1870, p. 82. 



Practical DiffictcUies, 59 

there lay the difference ; and I may mention a strik- 
ing comment on this objection to our Mission from 
the lips of one of its opponents. A gentleman, a 
friend of mine, though no friend to the Mission, 
was remarking in regard to our Easter services, on 
the large number of communicants, and also on 
the effect which seemed to be produced upon the 
clergy themselves, when the lady to whom he was 
speaking, said, 'You have given the greatest testi- 
mony to the value of the Mission/ And, my lord, 
he could not have given greater testimony. In this 
parish, six years ago, we had only forty-five com- 
municants on Easter-day ; last year we had about 
one hundred, and this year we had two hundred 
and fifty, and I say unhesitatingly that this result 
was mainly due to the mission.^^ 

Of the dangers to which this work is possibly ex- 
posed, it was replied by another; "Allowing there 
are hazards and difficulties attendant upon this, as 
upon every good endeavor, yet the evils of the pres- 
ent time are urgent; the indifference, the infidelity, 
the ignorance, the practical ungodliness, are crying 
aloud for some fresh out-come of Christian enerav 
and zeal to contend with them. Here is an experi- 
ment which has been well tried, and, as it seems, 
signally blessed. Why should we be faint-hearted ? 
Let us only commit ourselves to the work with 
faith and prayer, and we shall be carried well 
through it, and we may be sure that God will make 



60 Aggressive Work. 

the good wliicli results from it greatly to outweigh 
the evil/' * 

And from another paper at the same Congress, 
it was said, — '^ A mission is a regular exercise of 
pastoral jurisdiction, invoking the assistance of an 
extraneous power for a temporary effort. We must 
always act, in any parish to w^hich we may go, sim- 
ply as the representatives of the permanent local 
pastors. To weaken the hands of the pastor is to 
weaken the cause of Christ Our one object is to 
call forth tokens of vitality, which in their perma- 
nent operation may have their permanent pastor 
for their center and guide. And so if missions are 
charged w^ith eccentricities, this is their safeguard. 
The pastor is responsible. Eccentricities may be 
either good or they may be bad. The progress of 
astronomical learning would not be improved by 
our determining that the planets should revolve in 
perfect circles. Eccentricities are bad when they 
are indications of a principle of self-will at variance 
with outw^ard circumstances and Divine Rule. But 
there is no harm in doing an unusual thing, merely 
because it is not done every day. The Mission 
Priest will ahvays see that he does nothing but 
what is in harmony with the ordinary working of 
the parish. It is more likely that he, coming w4th 
the large-hearted experience of many parishes and 
manv clero-v, will remove the eccentricities of Di- 



* Ch. Congress, p. 65. 



Practical Difficulties. 



61 



vine Worship, in a bad sense of the word, which 
are apt to proceed from the isolated independence 
of the parochial clergy, than that he should impart 
any crochet of his own, which must come to grief 
if the parochial clergy do not back it up ; and on 
the other hand, whatever be the specialty wiiich dis- 
tinguishes any parish, if it be for good, the Mission 
Priest will strive to infuse into this specialty some 
high spiritual aim, which may make it to be really 
for good and not for evil. The Mission Priest 
must thus become all things to all men in the 
sense of not courting popularity as against author- 
ity, but of cooperating with the local ministrations, 
so as to give them fresh dignity, life, and purpose. 
A Mission cannot violate unity, unless unity con- 
sists in the isolated existence of monads. Eather 
it is the exemplification of unity, for the parish 
priest who invites a missioner, sets before his peo- 
ple the fact that there are othersj widely difier- 
ing from himself in the circumstances of life, who 
yet are one with him in its Divine realities; 
that he is not afraid of their cooperation, nor 
ashamed to seek help, because the fire with which 
he burns is the very same which enkindles them, 
so that the flame of his own ministry, flickering, it 
may be, in its loneliness, will not be lost, but 
strengthened by combining with that of others." * 
The cry of ''Revivalism,'' is another objection 



* lb. pp. 67, G8. 



62 Aggressive Work. 

very convenient for those who, it may be, do not 
think very deeply upon the matter, but choose to 
place themselves in opposition to this work. Bnt 
we have charity to believe that this objection has 
for its foundation the eccentricities, the irreverence, 
and the undue excitement bringing its nauseous 
recoil and "backslidings,'^ which are popularly as- 
sociated with the word revival, rather than w^hat is 
justly to be gathered from the import of the word 
itself. Spiritual reviving comes from God. And 
who are they who do not pray with the prophet Ha- 
bakuk,^ — "0 Lord, revive thy luork in the midst of 
the years, in the midst of the years make known ; 
in wrath remember mercy r 

Bishop Renkins says in his first pastoral to the 
Old Catholics, of Germany, — After referring to the 

lukewarm (Eev. ii. passim) " from time to 

time the quickening breath of the Lord goes forth 
renewing through His Kingdom, and then the na- 
tions rise up in religious revival, and seek the im- 
age of the Chief Shepherd and a pastor in the Spirit 
of Jesus Christ.'^ 

The late Bishop Mcllvaine, very justly observed 
of the constituents of a genuine revival, that they 
are to be witnessed in the ^^ conversion of sinners, 
and the quickening of the people of God to a spirit 
and walk becoming the Gospel." He says, " Great 
scandal has been raised by indiscretion, and what 
I cannot call by a better name than fraud on the 
part of some seekers of a revival. The agency of 



Practical Difficulties G3 

tlie Holy Spirifc, as the begiiiniDg and ending, has 
been, almost entirely set aside. A revival has been 
represented and songht for, as an article of manu- 
facture, for which you have only to set the ma- 
chinery and raise the steam of excitement, caring 
little with what fuel, and converts will be made to 
hand. Artifices to catch the attention, devices to 
entrap the careless, representations to create im- 
pressions, an exaggerated style of preaching to pro- 
duce alarm, to shake suspicious hopes and raise a 
state of genera] excitement, no matter of what kind 
so that it brings people to hear, have in some cases 
been put into requisition, over which truth and 
reverence, and humility, and faith must weep, and 
which have done more to injure revivals in certain 
places, than all the direct opposition of coldness 
and unbelief. When the world and slumbering 
Christians see these things, it is not strange they 
speak against revivals. Blessed be God, these 
things are not characteristic of revivals of religion, 
but only of some minds associated Avith thai 
name." 

'^ The dangers and cautions I liavc suggested,'' 
he further says, "arise out of the power and emi- 
nent value of the spirit of revivals. I owe too 
much of what I hope for, as a Christian, and what 
I have been blessed with as a minister of the Gos- 
pel, not to think most highly of the eminent im- 
portance of promoting this spirit, and consequently 
of guarding it against all abuses. Whatever I pos- 



G4: Aggressive Work. 

sess of religion began in a revival. The most pre- 
cious, steadfast and vigorous fruits of my ministry, 
have been the fruits of revivals. I believe the spir- 
it of revivals in the true sense, was the simple spirit 
of the religion of Apostolic times, and will be more 
and more the characteristic of these times as the 
day of the Lord draws near.'^ * 

Upon the same subject, the Eev. John A. Clark, 
D. D., late Eector of St. Andrew's Church, Phila- 
delphia, said, — "You see by these extracts, what I 
mean by a revival — an increased interest in and 
attention to the subject of religion through a con- 
gregation or community, produced by the power of 
the Holy Spirit operating through instrumentali- 
ties ordained or sanctioned by the Gospel, which 
God sees fit to employ and bless. 

"After this explanation, I feel bound to affirm 
that in reference to a revival of religion, whatever 
any particular individual within the pale of the 
Episcopal communion may say to the contrary, the 
great design of the Episcopal Church, in all her ser- 
vices, as may be readily seen by examining the Pray- 
er Book and Homilies, is to promote a continual 
revival of religion. In illustration of this remark, 
just glance your eye over the exhortation addressed 
by the Bishop to those who present themselves be- 
fore him as candidates for priest's orders. " Where- 
fore consider with yourselves the end of the minis- 

* A Walk about Zion, p. 56. 



Practical DifficitUies, 65 

try toward the Children of God — toward the spouse 
and body of Christ, and see that yon never cease 
your labor, your care and diligence, until you have 
done all that lieth in you according to your bound- 
en duty, to bring out all such as are or shall be 
committed to your charge, unto that agreement in 
the faith, and knowledge of God, and to that ripe- 
ness and perfectness of age in Christ, that there be 
no place left among you, either for error in religion, 
or for viciousness in life." — This is the solemn 
charge which every minister receives previous to 
being invested with the priestly office. And you 
can well see that if in every instance this exhorta- 
tion w^ere adhered to, there would be a systematic 
course of efforts unceasingly put forth to promote 
a continual revival of religion in all our Churches. 
And I have great pleasure in saying, and would 
here record it " to the praise of the glory of God's 
grace,'' that within the last three years, in a circle 
of sixteen Episcopal Churches, in which my parish 
is situated, there have been, with two or three ex- 
ceptions, revivals of religion in each one of these 
Churches ; and one of them has added, within that 
time, nearly three hundred members." * 

And yet another objection may be urged against 
this work, namely, that so potent an instrumental- 
ity has been and will most surely continue to be 
used by men of perverted views; by men whose ex- 

* lb. p. 57. 
3 



66 Aggressive Work. 

positions are known to be contrary to the standards 
of the Protestant Episcopal Chnrch, and an offence 
to conservative and sound-minded Churchmen. 

We know that every new-born sect finds its bul- 
wark in this form of propagandism, whether like 
the ancient " Sect of the Saducees '' it retain its 
place within the fold of Israel, or belong to the de- 
nominational world without. But to say this 
eminently Apostolic and invaluable instrumentality 
must therefore be rejected by the Church, w^ould 
be a reductio ad absurdam that by no means follows. 
This principle carried to its logical results would 
take from the Church every ministry and every or- 
dinance she has. 

Since that great reunion of the Church in the 
city of Baltimore, 1871, — which we may regard as 
in some sense forming a new era in the history of 
the Church in this country — such a form of ecclesi- 
asticism can hardly be expected to make any con- 
siderable progress in America. The Bishop of New 
York inhibits "St. Sacramemt,^^ and, contrary to 
both the spirit of the Church and the genius of 
the age, it certainly should not alarm men of sober 
thought. We are persuaded that the Protestant 
Episcopal Church, whose steady aim is to maintain 
intact the standards that are at once Apostolic 
and Catholic, will not as a body essentially err in 
this matter. 

But, were we to admit that the pure love of the 
truth had died out, that suddenly the great mass 



Practical Difficulties. 67 

of men had become clamorous for the verbiage and 
paraphernalia of an effete Medisevalism^ that possi- 
bly the Church might yield to the rising flood 
while "St. Sacrament'^ should be foisted in place of 
that Gospel which by divine decree was and still is 
"the power of God unto Salvation to every one 
that believeth/'' what then should they who honest- 
ly have at heart the interests of the Church so 
surely do, as to immediately enter upon this work 
of an earnest, determined and persistent evangel- 
ism ? We submit that nothing so divorces from 
her the idolatry of mammon, nothing so fuses her 
religious sympathies and helps to a right judgment, 
as does this aggressive spirit of the Gospel which 
incites to a united efl*ort against the Church's foe. 
"When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the 
Spirit of tlie Lord shall lift up a standard against 
him." (Isa. lix. 19.) And so far from being a rea- 
son why this work should not be encouraged, it 
should be a most substantial reason for challenging 
the immediate action of any and all such as may 
be apprehensive of the safety of the Church. 

" But of all the foes we meet, 

None so oft mislead our feet, 

None betray us into sin, 

Like the foes that dwell within." 
It is after all true that nothing so much threat- 
ens to confront this work at the outset, and to 
withstand it at every step, as does the worldly, 
fashionable, easy-going and self-satisfied Christian- 
ity with which we are surrounded: the Christian- 



68 Aggressive Worh. 

ity that makts much of the beautiful fold, and cares 
nothing for the torn and bleeding sheep scattered 
in the wilderness : which hears (rod's yoice com- 
manding to ^'Go'^ and seek that which is lost, but 
neyergoes; that dares to ask if it will comport 
with the ^'dignity of the Church '^ of to-day to 
preach to men on the mountain-side, by the sea- 
shore and to the Avoman at the well, as did the Son 
of God anciently! A poor, supine, politic Chris- 
tianity, which, deluded by gaudy tinselry, cares 
little for the wealth of an inward and living 
faith and a heart-communion with God ; that talks 
much of Schism, but never makes any advances 
with a view to heal the wounds and bridge the 
chasms that vex and grieve the children of God ; 
that makes merchandise of God's house, and does 
not preacli the Gospel to tlie poor I "Woe unto you 
hypocrites !"' " How can ye escape the damnation 
of hell P And yet is it not written, ''When the 
Son of Man cometh, shall He find faith on the 
earth T 



CHAPTER IV. 



A MISSION CONTEMPLATED. 

Preparation — Notices — Parishes should unite in 
Missions — Missions m Sixty Churches in Lon- 
don held simultaneously — Importance of Prayer 
— The divine Promises — Fasting — A Novena — 
The Bishops of London^ Winchester and Roches- 
ter jointly request a Ten-days Mission for 1874. 

Preparation for a mission must differ according 
to time and place. But results so much depend 
upon the preparation made, it is desirable Ave no- 
tice some things relating to this matter. * If the 
mission is to be held in a new field where there are 
no communicants, then the preparation relates to 
little outside of what would naturally suggest it- 
self in a business Avay. A place for services must 
be provided, of course the best that can be pro- 
cured, having due respect to the convenience and 
comfort of such as may attend. 

Of notices, it Avill be particularly desirable that 
they be as extensive as possible. In character they 
must depend entirely upon the moral complexion 



'- See Appendix A. 



70 Aggressive Work. 

of the community and the topics which it is pro- 
posed to discuss. This, however, will be best de- 
termined by the common-sense of such as have the 
matter in hand at the time. In one place verbal 
notice may be suflBcient; in another, printed, and 
possibly in some instances posted notices may be 
requisite. A determination to reach the people by 
such means as are legitimate in the place w^ill de- 
cide the matter. 

The following has been useful in England — * 
'^ COME TO THE MISSION ! '" 

(From the Sixtieth Thousand, English Edition.) 

Why not ? It can do you no harm. It may do 
you good. 

AVhat sort of good ? Good that vnll last forever. 
Good for your soul. 

That's all very well, perhaps you say, but a man 
must live. He has got to w^ork hard for his bread ; 
he has no time to think of this sort of thing. 

I know that, my friend ; at least I know it is not 
easy for you to find time to think. And that is 
just w^hy we have this '• Mission." We want to 
meet you half-way. When one week is just like 
the last, the right time never seems to come, to 
look after your soul. Not just now ! Not just now ! 
seems the cry day by day. 

And yet, if Death were to come, and find you 
just what fyou are, what would you do? How 



E. P. Button k Co., New York. 



A Mission Contemplated. 71 

would you feel ? Are you fit to die ? Look at 
your heart; look at your life. Has it been made 
new and clean ? Have you ever prayed this prayer: 
" Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow '' ? 
And have you got what you asked for ? 

If not, what shall we say ? What shall we think? 
Shall we let you alone ? Would it be kind ? Shall 
we let you alone till you fall ill some day, and so 
get time to think of that poor soul of yours ? 
Would this be safe ? What if no such time ever 
comes ? What if your call to die comes at such an 
hour as you do not look for ? 

We cannot let you alone. We want to do as we 
would be done by. And if we had gone to sleep 
in a house on fire, we should not think it kind of 
you to let us alone. If you said, you let us alone 
because we seemed so tired, what should we feel, 
when we woke up at last, too late ? Should we 
thank you ? 

Now, I said, we want to meet you half-way. Let 
me tell you what I mean. 

If it were just for a feav days, do you not think 
you could come, each night, and find it not so hard 
as to make up your mind to come to Church on a 
Sunday for the first time ? 

Just for a few days, then, we say, Come as you 
ARE, WHE]tNr YOUR WORK IS DONE ; comc ALL of you; 
no man need mind his clothes; it will not be a 
place for fine clothes, so who need keep away for 
want of that ? Fine clothes would look quite out 
of place. 



73 Aggressive Work. 

Do you still feel shy? Think of one thing 
more. " He was rich ; yet for your sakes He be- 
came poor. " You know Who this is Who ^' became 
poor " ? Did He wear fine clothes ? Only once ; and 
that was when they were put on him to mock Him ! 
(St. Luke, xxiii. 11.) And when " they put his 
own clothes upon Him^' again, and "led Him out 
to crucify Him, '' what sort of clothes were those ? 
And even those poor clothes were torn off from 
Him before they nailed him to the Cross ! Think 
of this I . . . . Can you stay away now, for fear your 
clothes are too bad to come ? 

Or do you say, " Why should I come ? I am no 
worse than the rest ! '" What then ? AVhat if you 
are not so bad as the rest? What if you are quite 
the best man there ? You do not think that this 
would save you ? Each man has a soul of his own. 
Is YOUR ow:^^ SOUL SAYED ? If you were out at sea, 
and your ship were to sink, would it do you any 
good to know you were not such a heavy man as 
the rest ? Would this save you ? 

You say, '' But I go to church.'' A good thing, 
too, if you meet God there. It is the House of 
Prayer. It is God's own House. His saints hon- 
or Him there. But " God is a Spirit, and they that 
worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in 
truth." If they do not worship Him thus, they do 
not really " worship '' Him at all. They might as * 
well stay at home. ^'The Lord is far from the 
Avicked ; but He heareth the prayer of the right- 



A Mission Contemplated, 73 

eous/^ What is the use of joining with God's 
people, if you are not one of them ? Would it 
make you rich, to sit near rich men ? Would it help 
you to see (if you were blind) to have light all 
round you? Light is not sight. You say, "lam 
rich; ^^ But God says, "Thou art poor/^ (Eev. iii. 
17.) 

Take care, lest you get harm instead of good, 
each time you go to Church ; for God's best gifts 
will bring a curse if used the wrong way. A man 
might be blinded with gold dust ! I have read of 
one who was really drowned in a cask of wine ! 
Oh, think of this, you that go to God's House, but 
do not yet know God. And think of it, most of 
all, any of you that come to the Holt CoMMU]srio:N', 
and yet have never turned from sin, and found 
Peace through the Blood of His Cross. "Eepent 
you of your sins, or else come not to that Holy 
Table !" 

I do not ask, then, Do you go to Church ? But I 
ask : Are you one of those who can say : " We 
have Peace with God through our Lord Jesus 
Christ " ? (Rom. v. 1. ) Can you say : 

'' I do believe, I can believe, 
That Jesus died for ine " ? 

What is your answer ? " Yes " ? 

Then I do not want you to ^'come to the Mis- 
sion." Try to get others to come; try hard, and 
pray hard; be bold, and brave, and loving ; do all 
you can to get them to go, and then pray for them. 



74 Aggressive Wor^k. 

But is your answer, No! I have 2»s^ot got Peace; 
I do :ts^OT know God ? 

Then, Come to the Mission ! Come just as you 
are, in soul and body. Never mind your clothes, 
even if you have nothing but rags ! Why, your 
soul is much worse off, as to that ! Do you know, 
that all your best deeds are, in God's sight, "as 
FILTHY rags'' ? And what must your worst be? 
What must your sins be, in His sight? Can you 
stand before God, if you have nothing better than 
this to put on ? 

Come to the Missioi^ ! After that, we shall 
say. Come to other means of grace; but just now^, 
all we say is : 

Come to the Mission ! 

You are not safe. You are not happy. And you 
never will be, till you learn to know — "Jesus ! " 

"None but Jesus 
Can do helpless sinners good." 

" Helpless sinners ! " You cannot save yourselves. 
I cannot save you. 

Come to the Mission, that you may learn how 
to come to JESUS HIMSELF! 

He has said — 

" Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are 

HEAVY laden, AND I WILL GIVE YOU REST." (St 

Matt. xi. 28.) 



Upon this point however we would lay special 
stress, — in every instance, when possible, use the 



A Mission Conteniplated. 75 

daily or weekly press. This be it remembered is 
the great engine of the Nineteenth Century, the 
sme qua noii to the world's enterprise. No move- 
ment is supposed legitimate to the age that is not 
willing to be linked to the press. And since we 
have nothing to disguise, but to the contrary pro- 
pose to take our place and wield our quota of in- 
fluence in the steady march of civilization, there- 
fore let us not fail of this powerful and Pvoviden- 
tial auxiliary where it can be had. It is more com- 
monly the case that the conductors of the press, if 
not Churchmen, are yet so pledged to the religious 
public, and so capable of viewing things in a com- 
prehensive light, that they will be found quite 
ready and glad to give whatever editorial notices 
may seem desirable. And a few notices of this sort 
some time before the mission begins, will be found 
eminently helpful. Only minding that such no- 
tices are secured as will place the mission in a 
favorable light, and, at the same time avoid the im- 
pression of clap-trap or a willingness to truckle to 
public opinion and gain favor by unworthy means. 
We would be more particular to urge this i^oint 
since through perverted views or a false modesty, 
some would avoid the agency of the press in bring- 
ing the subject to the attention of the public. But 
if this be neglected, it is altogether possible that 
just as the mission is brought to a close people only 
then begin to hear of it who otherwise might have 
been greatly benefited. 



76 Aggi^essive Work. 

In a town where the Church is established and 
especially where there is more than a single parish, 
preliminary matters will require much more atten- 
tion if we will reap the largest benefits from a mis- 
sion. In every parish may be expected those who 
although they should be the first to volunteer their 
services and help in the mission will yet be the last, 
and possibly will hold themselves at a distance to 
the very end. But the rector planning the mis- 
sion, if there be a rector, will not be discouraged. 
"We walk by faith not by sight.'' Still it will be 
desirable on every account to enlist the hearty co- 
operation of all that can be enlisted in the move- 
ment. 

It is said that the results of a Twelve Days mis- 
sion held simultaneously in sixty Churches, in 
London, 1869, were vastly greater than could pos- 
sibly have been expected from any other method. 
In keeping with this view, the Bishops of London, 
Winchester and Eochester have recommended a 
Ten days simultaneous mission preceding the 
Lenten Season of 1874. And for' many reasons it 
is obvious that this is too important a point to be 
neglected. Still, if there be but one rector among 
a multitude of parishes, who feels the importance 
of this work and has substantial reasons for believ- 
ing that such a movement would uuseal living 
fountains and bring refreshing and salvation to 
souls that would not and may be cannot be reached 
otherwise, it becomes a very serious question whether 



J 



A Mission Contemplated. 77 

lie should or should not refrain from planning a 
mission within his own parish. Counsel with oth- 
ers, particularly with his Bishop, may then be found 
specially helpful in reaching a right conclusion; 
although it should not be forgotten that the re- 
sults to be effected would be far less than where all 
the parishes of a given town were united in the 
movement. 

The time of the mission, is also a point deserv- 
ing consideration. If the place proposed be in a 
rural district it will be of little use to hold the 
mission during the farmer's harvest time, unless it 
be a brief mission of not more than three or four 
days in a seated grove or under a tabernacle. Then 
letting the mission close on Sunday, it will often 
be found great numbers will attend who with hon- 
est hearts will receive the good seed of life. Long 
evenings are always desii^able. And it will be found 
as a rule, that large congregations can be more 
readily secured during the latter part of winter, and 
early spring-time, than during any other part of the 
year. Yet other considerations may make almost 
any other portion of the year preferable to this. 
In a town or village not lighted with gas, reference 
should be liad to the state of the moon, so as to se- 
cure a mission if possible, when the people can 
go and return without the inconvenience of utter 
darkness. In regions exposed to extreme heat or 
cold, these facts should be considered. It is ex- 
pected of every rector that he will observe the sea- 



78 Aggressive Work, 

son of Lent with multiplied services. This his par- 
ish expects of him. And yet, for local or special 
reasons, it may be particularly desirable that he 
have a mission in his parish if he can secure the 
necessary help from the Brotherhood, during the 
Lenten Season. 

Having determined upon the time and place, let 
the proposed mission be the subject of anticipation, 
of conversation, and, we must add, by all means let 
it be the suijed of unceasing, importunate and in- 
tercessory prayer. Without such prayer, do not let 
any one anticipate any very extensive or marked 
results. And for this, we know of nothing outside 
the Bible, more inspiring or more helpful than are 
the words placed upon our lips by the Book of 
Common Prayer, although, there can be no infrac- 
tion of law by distinguishing between Common 
and Special Prayer. Such breathings out of the 
heart to God, are seldom heard elsewhere on earth 
as are sometimes and ought always to be heard when 
we use the Litany and office of the Holy Commun- 
ion. So also in many collects and prayers we have 
the exact language we need for these occasions. In 
the- prayer for Conventions, we lift up the heart to 
God beseeching that of His great mercy. He will 
" so direct, sanctify and govern '' His servants in 
their work ^-'by the mighty power of the Holy 
Ghost, that the comfortable Gospel of Christ may 
be truly preached, truly received, and truly followed 
. . to the breaking down the kingdom of Sin, Sa- 



A Mission Contemplated, 79' 

tan and Death.'' So also in the Fourth^ and par- 
ticularly in the Third Sunday of Advent, as in many 
other collects, we find such words as should be 
pleaded daily before God in behalf of the antici- 
pated mission. 

It is so ordered in the Divine economy, that our 
reception of spiritual blessings shall depend very 
largely upon prayer, — the prayer of faith. " Ask 
and ye shall receive. Seek and ye shall find," are 
the gracious promises. And again, " Whatsoever 
ye shall ask the Father in my name. He Avill give 
it you.'' (John xvi. 23 ; xiv. 13). " The effectual 
fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." 
(Jas. V.) And so it has been and must continue to 
be, that they only are largely blessed with the pres- 
ence of the Divine Spirit's influences who know in 
their hearts the sweetness of communion with God 
in prayer. If St. Paul, the great Apostle of God 
to the Gentiles, needed to ask of his brethren that 
they pray for him, (1 Thess. v. 25. 2 Thess. iii. 1. 
Heb. xiii. 18), that he might open his mouth boldly 
to make known the mystery of the Gospel, (Eph. 
vi. 18-20), how much more should prayer be made 
for such as amid the infirmities and difficulties pe- 
culiar to this age, go forth to preach the same Gos- 
pel. Due always for all who are embassadors of 
God, yet special prayer should be offered for a spe- 
cial mission. 

In the closet, at the family altar, and especially 
in the great congregation when pleading with 



80 Aggressive Worh. 

united heart tlie merits of that precious blood- 
shedding poured forth in the one great sacrifice of 
the Lamb of God, let the contemplated mission be 
remembered. In England, it is said, there have 
sometimes been special gatherings for prayer, for 
many days prior to entering upon a mission. These 
are sometimes held in private houses and cottages 
in diflGerent parts of the town, with possibly one or 
two special gatherings in the Church or lecture- 
room during the week (when a Litany Service 
would be specially proper), for the same purpose. 
It has sometimes been recommended, and it may 
be questioned whether it would not be well to al- 
ways recommend a day of fasting with prayer, for 
the mission when it is to be held in a town where 
there is one or more parishes already established : a 
measure believed to have been very often and very 
signally owned of God. Sometimes these seasons 
of special prayer in anticipation of a mission, 
have been continued daring nine successive days ; 
the length of time, it will be remembered, that the 
Apostles and brethren continued with one accord 
in one place in ^'prayer and supplication, with the 
women" after our Lord's ascension, while they 
waited for the out-pouring of the Holy Ghost. (Acts 
i. 14, ii. 1). Having reference to the time observed 
for such supplications —nine days — this period is 
sometimes called a Novena. 

Moreover, the benefits accruing from such a sea- 
son of heart-searching and prayer, must evidently 



ui MUsion Contemplated, 81 

be of incalculable benefit to such as engage in it, 
while also the mission is infinitely richer in spirit- 
nal influences, and fruit to the glory of God. It is 
written of our Lord that in " His own country/' 
" He did not many mighty works there because of 
their unbelief." How much less may we expect 
fruit to result from the labors of those whom He 
has sent, if there be no faith on the part of those 
to whom the Word is ministered, and no prepara- 
tion of heart — no sympathy or soul — on the part of 
those who call themselves by His name while an- 
ticipating the coming of His ambassadors ! 

In the letter issued to their clergy by the Bishops 
of London, Winchester and Rochester (Eng.), 
recommending a ten days' mission prior to tlie 
Lenten Season of 1874, they say : — " The main ob- 
ject of the mission is to bring the ungodly and 
unconverted into the fold of Christ, but we aie 
convinced that nothing is better fitted to quicken 
the spiritual life of all members of the Church than 
that they should give their hearty cooperation to 
such a work. We do not think it necessary that 
the direct work of the mission should be carried on 
in every parish. But parishes into which it is not 
judged expedient to introduce its active working 
may yet take their part in it, and do much to se- 
cure its success, by joining earnestly and continu- 
ously in prayers for the out-pouring of the Holy 
Spirit of God, without which all its labors will be 
in vain. We beg you affectionately to lead your 
4 



82 Aggressive Work, 

flocks to give that miglity aid to our efforts; to 
pray that God for Christ's sake would, by the opera- 
tion of the Holy Ghost, prepare the hearts of those 
whom He would have to receive the message of His 
great love. Entreat Him also, we beseech you, to 
lit the messengers who bear the tidiugs of His love, 
to speak from souls full of His grace to the very 
souls of their brethren; from hearts warm with 
the love of Christ, of Christ crucified for sinners. 
We do not think it necessary to lay down special 
rules for the conduct of the mission. There must 
be much elasticity in such an attempt to make it 
suit the different characters and needs of various 
parishes, and we do not desire to restrahi this nec- 
essary liberty, only reminding you that the services 
conducted in churches and licensed chapels are 
confined by law, except as to hymns and anthems, 
to the words of Holy Scripture, and the Book of 
Common Praver.'^ 



CHAPTER V. 



A MISSION- WITH ITS METHODS. 



Two hy huo — A PitUic Reception sometimes achnis- 
7nissible — The Holy Comimtnion — Address to the 
Children — Mission Services and Singing — Bishcp 
of Ripon — The Sermon, its character and impor- 
tance — An Instruction — The Meditation — The 
Formation of Classes, 

It is very desirable that, as far as possible, the 
primitive idea of going two by two, be realized in 
this work, so mightily is the heart of the Evangel- 
ist strengthened by having with him a helper like- 
minded, to assist in the Service of prayer and song, 
and in exhortation. Where, however, this is not 
expedient, let him take with him, if he can, a few 
lay-people from the place of his last mission, capa- 
ble of assisting as occasion may offer. So it was 
*"' Six brethren" accompanied St. Peter to Cesarea. 
(Acts xi. 12.) And their presence will be found to 
add very much to the character and spirit of the 
services. This has been found \)y experience, to 
be a matter of much more importance than is 
generally supposed. Let it be the rule, whenever 



84 Aggressive Worh. 

possible, to find those of like mind with himself^, 
and capable of setting forward his work. 

It has been recommended, and may in some in- 
stances be well, to give to the Evangelist and his 
helpers, a public reception. For this, there should 
be as large a gathering as can well be secured, at 
the Church or place where the mission is to be held, 
say at three or four o'clock in the afternoon of the 
day when the mission is to begin. If in a Parish 
Church, let the rector meet the newly arrived breth- 
ren just within the Church doors, when proceeding 
together down the aisle until they have entered 
within the choir, (upon the platform fronting the 
chancel) let them then proceed yrith an informal 
service of song and prayer, followed by an address 
of welcome, to which reply would be made by one or 
more of the Evangelists. It would be very proper 
to state upon this occasion, what God had lately 
wrought by the hand of His embassadors, and re- 
mark of what was to be sought and prayed for up- 
on the present occasion. This service concluded, 
let the brethren be introduced individually to all 
those welcoming them to their midst. And the 
same evening let there be service and preaching. 

The day following the reception of the Evangel- 
ists, let the Holy Communion be celebrated by the 
rector, at the usual hour of morning service, at 
which also, a homily from the Evangelist conduct- 
ing the mission, or from his assistant, will be in 
place. Sliould this be on Sunday, it might be well 



A Mission tvith its Methods 80 

to precede this service with Morning Prayer, at six 
or nine o'clock. On the afternoon of the first Sun- 
day, let tliere be a Children's Service, with a ser- 
mon or address from one of the Evangelists. Also 
let there be Evening Prayer and Sermon, Sunday 
evening. Thereafter the evenings should be whol- 
ly devoted to the work of the mission — informal 
services with preaching. Should the mission be 
held in a Church where it is customary to have 
daily services, let Morning Prayer be said at five or 
nine o'clock, and Evening Prayer at three or five 
in the afternoon. Mission services ought as a rule 
to be informal, since the object of Mie mission is to 
do what the offices of worship are not so much to 
produce as to result from ; — the mission is mainly 
for preaching and instruction. 

77ie Mission Service cannot properly be prescrib- 
ed. In this, as in many other matters, it will be 
found the part of wisdom to let the peculiar cir- 
cumstances of the time and place dictate what kind 
and measure of service is most desirable. But it 
may be questioned whether the full service of Eve- 
ning Prayer ought ever to be used as a rule, 
and probably the ^^ Third Service," or abbreviated 
Even Song had better be used but seldom. The 
Bishop of Ripon (Eng.) said upon taking the chair 
as President of the Church Congress, held in Leeds, 
1872, ''We are learning by degrees the need of 
greater elasticity and freedom in our Church sys- 
tem. I suppose that most men now recognize the 



86 Aggressive Work, 

necessity — if the national Chnrcli is to retain, or, 
speaking more correctly, if she is to recover her in- 
fluence over large masses of our fellow-countrymen 
— that she should be emancipated to some extent, 
from those rigid and unyielding bands of uniform- 
ity which have too often tended rather to impede 
than to further the Church's progress." The Lita- 
ny will hardly be used too frequently during the 
progress of the mission, and may be found special- 
ly proper Wednesdays and Fridays. Simply prayer 
with possibly a hymn, would be all that we would 
regard as indispensable. It may, however, be prop- 
er to state that^fter some experience in this work, 
we have found the following most satisfactory when 
the mission has been held in a parish Church : be- 
gin the service with a lesson from Holy Scripture 
— letting God's Word be heard first of all, as in the 
oflSce for Morning and Evening Prayer : — let the 
lesson be followed by a canticle, read or sung, and 
the Apostle's Creed, after which the Lord's Prayer 
may be offered, together with such other prayers 
and collects from the Book of Common Prayer, as 
the occasion may seem to require*; a hymn should 
then be sung and a sermon preached — reserving 
the Confession and Absolution of Evening Prayer 
to be said further on in the evening, if desired. 

Of the Singing, ^^Q would say that whether led 
by a choir or precentor, it should by all means be 
congregationaL Should the Anthems be sung, 
they should be set to Gregorian tunes, or some 



A Mission ivith its Methods. 87 

compositions so easily acquired that all can take 
part in their use. The hymns and tunes should be 
such as are known to be familiar to the whole con- 
gregation, though always selected with reference to 
the subject of the sermon. And these hymns 
should be sung again and again, during the course 
of the mission, until they shall of themselves bring 
forth from the hearts of the peojile the blessed re- 
sponses of a pure praise to God. It is written, 
"The people which shall be created shall praise the 
Lord.'' And again — "Whosofever oifereth praise, 
glorifieth Me.^^ Only let the singing be ^Mvith tliQ 
spirit,'^and "with the understanding also.^'--^'Teach' 
ing and admonishing one another in psalms and 
hymns and spiritual songs, singing ^vith grace in 
your hearts to the Lord.^^ 

Of but one thing further would we remark con- 
cerning the service — let whatever of service may be 
said, be uttered with a uniform voice, the congre- 
gation following whoever may lead, in tone and 
time, as nearly as possible. It is more than proba- 
ble that those leading in these services will lift up 
their voice from full and burtliened hearts, and 
with a tone suited to the fervency of vehement de- 
sire ; when, for some to lag behind, or to go trip- 
ping carelessly on, or to purposely use an intonation 
foreign to the vernacular of the congregation, or, 
what is worse than all, to mumble the service of 
Divine Worship, is not only distracting, but may 
be said to bo little less than fatal to the immediate 



SS Aggressive Worlc. 

effects of the service. It would almost be better to 
have no service except by a single voice, than to 
have a service where it should be manifest to those 
in attendance that there was no sympathy of heart 
or unity of purpose. If such flagrant faults must 
be tolerated in the common services, they still 
ought by all means to be avoided, if possible, in 
conducting a mission service. 

The Sermon comes next. And, although this is 
not the place to produce a volume on Homiletics, 
and notwithstanding we have already given some 
hints touching the preaching of Evangelists, it is 
important to observe that ftiilure in the preaching, 
is a feilure of the mission. 

It is not to be supposed that all sermons deliver- 
ed in course of a mission will be uniformly Vciluable. 
It will perhaps be but seldom that the Evangelist 
will be at all satisfied w^ith his attempt in this di- 
rection. But this is manifestly the culmiuating 
point. Here, while the Word of God is being pro- 
claimed, He who dwells in the brightness of the 
Father's glory, must be revealed to men as a '-quick' 
eniiig spirit^' and the (xospel be found the power 
of God unto salvation through the kindlings and 
quickening of faith, or else the whole movement 
must terminate in disappointment and a sickening 
recoil. If, liowever, the ^ 'truth as it is in Jesus/' 
be proclaimed clearl}^, practically — in a way suited 
to the needs of the hearers — and in the demonstra- 
tion of Divine power, there cannot be a failure. 



A Mission with its Methods. 89 

God's word will not return unto Him void. And 
our "labor is not in vain in the Lord." Our ut- 
most faith may be challenged, hope may for a time 
seem to be deferred, but, *'Is not my word like as a 
fire? saith the Lord; and like a hammer that 
breaketh the rock in pieces ?'' He who hath sent 
His servants, bidding them Go, nothing doubting, 
will have them strike again and again, and will 
certainly not deceive them nor disappoint their 
faith. For "Faith cometh by hearing." 

But it is rightly judged, that this is the critical 
point. To know how to bring out the truth most 
effectually, what kind of sermons to preach — how 
far they should be expositorial and how far horta- 
tive, whether they should at any time touch polem- 
ics and to what extent, how much time should be 
devoted to the Evidences of Christianity, and how 
much to dogmas, how to bring out the truth touch- 
ing moral obligation and the simplicity of faith 
that justifies while also it conducts to the obedience 
of holiness; — and having determined what kind of 
sermons are best suited to a given community, then 
to know how to so bring out the truth that the 
hearers instead of being repelled, shall be drawn to 
the preacher, and being drawn shall remain steadi- 
ly before him, until, with the understanding en- 
lightened, the judgment convinced, the imagination 
kindled, the heart and will shall yield in obedience 
to God — to know how to do this, and knowino- 
how, then to acquire power to do it, may well task 
4* 



90 Aggressive Work, 

the soul of an Apostle, and cause him to cry out, 
'•'Who is sufficient for these things!" If any man 
think otherwise, let him try it if he wilh and he 
shall find it the severest test of his life. Light does 
not come of darkness,; and a stream cannot rise 
higher than its fountain. "He that winneth sonls 
is wise;^' and if any man have this wisdom, for the 
love of Christ, let him make demonstration of the 
fact. Let him do the work, and enter upon this 
labour and travail of Christ, and seeing sons and 
daughters born to the Lord our God, he shall rea- 
lize with this agony of faith, the highest felicity of 
which the human soul is capable this side the 
World to come; while also, there shall be joy 
' among the angels of heaven. But though of the 
most brilliant intellect, of the most comprehensive 
mind, and of the keenest sensibilities, though a 
polished shaft from the quiver of the Almighty, 
still, to man it must always be very much the 
drawing the bow at a venture. 

And yet he should study to show himself ap- 
proved. The preparation of his sermons and heart 
should be his unceasing labor: to make his sermons 
compact, brief, logical, and touching; and at the 
same time to hold himself in entire sympathy with 
the people, meanwhile bringing forth things ne\y 
and old from the treasury of God. And it is safe 
to affirm of sermons that are too diffuse, too lengthy, 
too labored, too h^arned, too subtle, that are want- 
ing in the out-gushings of the soul, and do not at 



A Mission ivith its Metliods. 91 

every service meet the special, personal and felt 
spiritual needs of those present, that they Avill be 
found to miss of the point aimed at. Of course ev- 
erything pointing toward the ludicrous, everything 
grotesque or eccentric should be studiously avoid- 
ed. He must not seem to be smart or sarcastic, 
and by no means harsh in his rebukes. But let 
him abide in the Spirit. Let the truths he preach- 
es be the fundamental truths. Do not let him be 
afraid to repeat these truths again and again, law- 
yer-like, until they are clear to the humblest capac- 
ity; let him do this in every sermon; though he 
seem to digress, let it be only to unexpectedly bring 
his congregation face to face with the same truth 
again. Although it should be observed that he 
must by no means seem to ride a hobby. Anecdote- 
truth in the concrete, may be used moderately and 
so will be used well if germain to the subject in 
hand. As a scholar and thinker he cannot rant, 
but he should certainly be most solemnly in ear- 
nest. Above all he should speak the truth in 
love. 

The place for the delivery of an Evangelist's ser- 
mon in a Church, should be in front of the Chancel 
and as near the people as convenience will permit. 
In conclusion he will offer the Ascription, and the 
congregation will join in an appropriate hymn. 

The Instruction or Meditation, or both, may then 
follow. The first is intended to be a practical ex- 
planation of personal duty, and may occupy from 



92 Aggressive VVork^ 

fiye to twenty minutes^ this being determined 
largely by the time occupied in delivering the ser- 
mon. Of course this should be taken by a helper. 
The Meditation is no more nor less tiian a solilo- 
quy, the person u^ing it attempting to make an ap- 
plication of the truth to his own heart, meanwhile 
giving vocal utterance to his thoughts. We have 
occasionally used this for many years, and with 
sensible profit, and always standing before the con- 
gregation. But in England, it is recommended to 
be sometimes used Avliile kneeling. 

This exercise being concluded, any announce- 
ments may be made or repeated that may seem to 
be expedient. Of these it may be well to ask all 
communicants present to remain the first night, af- 
ter the congregation is dismissed, at which time 
those remaining may be spoken with personally, 
and requested thereafter to remain every night, to 
join in congregational singing, to report any cases 
they may desire to bring to the attention of the 
clergy, and also by their remaining, to encourage 
any who may afterward desire to speak then and 
there with the clergy, with reference to confirma- 
tion or readmission to Communion. After this has 
been explained to the communicants, announce- 
ments may be made upon subsequent evenings to 
the eflfect that the Evangelists and clergy present 
will take pleasure in seeing any persons who may 
desire to speak with them with reference to person- 
al faith, or with a view to join either the Class for 



A Mission with its Methods, 93 

Confirmation, or the Class for readmission to Com- 
munion. 

Of the formation of Classes, and of the impor- 
tance of personal contact with those desiring in- 
struction, we propose to speak further on. 

Another hymn being sung, the Confession may 
then be used if desired, if not used before, and the 
congregation allowed to depart with the benedic- 
tion. 



CHAPTER VI. 



A MISSION WITHO UT AN E VA NGELIST. 

The case Stated — Reasons for such Missions — The 
Preachers desired : Pere Nampon — Topics of Ser- 
mons — Lengfli of Services : an Example in Iowa 
— Extempora.ry and Manuscript Serinons — Other 
Measures. 

Is it possible to conduct a mission snccessfully in 
absence of an Evangelist? This is certainly a very 
important question. 

We have all along maintained, that, since God 
has placed '^diversities of gifts'' in the Church, 
(1 Cor. xii.) Himself making and designating them 
as embracing among others, '"' — some Evangelists 
and some pastors and teachers," (Eph. iv.) there 
would still be found a special blessing for the 
Church by maintaining this important distinction 
maintained in the Canon of Scripture, and so 
clearly noted in the Church's early history. We 
have also desired to correct the false notion preva- 
lent in the American mind, that an Evangelist if 
not of very inferior gifts and intellectual furnish- 
ing, as is commonly supposed to be the case, is ne- 



A Mission ivitlioat an Evangelisl. 95 

cessarily an erratic and eccentric person for whom 
the disciplined and sober-minded portion of the 
community cannot entertain special regard. 

Still, if men Avill ignore our testimony, if they 
will forget the work of Wesley and Whitefield, — 
men for whose departure the Church of England 
will never cease to mourn, for their labor was 
chiefly outside the pale of that Churcli, — if they 
will forget the course of the Eoman Catholic 
Church in this matter, and though they shut their 
eyes to the destitution of our great communities 
and their ears to the wail that comes, a Macedonian 
cry, from the North, South, East and West, we 
submit that, we have nevertheless produced indu- 
bitable evidence that the Protestant Episcopal 
Church needs, and should by all and every means 
encourage the attempt to place in the field, a class 
of able, devout and accomplished preachers, speci- 
ally prepared for this work. Because failing of 
this, she fails of a golden opportunity and of the 
grandest results it was ever possible for a Church 
to reach at any time this side the days of the Ee- 
formation. 

If however an efficient Evangelist cannot be pro- 
cured, and if, as was lately affirmed of mission ser- 
vices by the Rt. Rev. the Bishop of Central New 
York, '' Life is born of such action as surely as 
man and the kingdom keep their constitution, and 
God keeps his promises,"* Then we should most 

*Ad(lress before the Diocesan Convention, 1873. 



96 Aggressive Work. 

surely encourage those who, under favorable au- 
spices, have it in their hearts to institute a mission. 
It is very likely God has wrought this desire, and 
may design to manifest special mercy toward this 
portion of His heritage : such mercy as would be 
manifest should some parent's prayers be answered 
and some wanderer rescued and plucked as a brand 
from the burning, and especially should the Church 
receive a new impetus in her work for Christ ; al- 
though, it may be God's purpose to put to the test 
the faith of his people in that locality, and elicit an 
interest in the work of saving lost men at home 
and abroad, preparatory to a future mercy for the 
present hidden from their view. 
There are these reasons for making the attempt : 

1. The very desirable results likely to follow if con- 
ducted to a successful issue — the conversion of sin- 
ners, and the building up the Church of (xod. 

2. The fact that the spirit ruling the body is one, 
so that aggressive work is legitimate to the Church 
everywhere, while in all directions may be expected 
men who, having a readiness to enter upon this 
work in a limited way, will be found successful to 
an extent much beyond any one's expectation. Such 
are men who if they had early been devoted to this 
work would have been Wesleys and Whitefields, 
" Second Apostles '' indeed. 5. The fact that souls 
are perishing all around us whom the usual pas- 
toral methods do not and probably will not reach. 
4. The fact that using, were it possible, a very large 



A Mission ivithout an Evangelist, 97 

Evangelist force, there would then remain vast re- 
gions and important fields iincared for by the Church. 
5. The fact that such efforts properly conducted in- 
ure A^ery largely to the benefit of the Protestant 
Episcopal Church in this country, where there are, 
probably, scores of thousands that are now kept 
out of her Communion only because they want 
such a demonstration of life and the presence of 
the indwelling Spirit, as this would serve to give 
them. 6. The fact that such missions are often 
very successfully carried on in England, by the aid 
of neighboring rectors and the Bishop, whom it 
would be well always to engage if possible for all or 
a portion of the time. 7. And, above all, the 
glory of God: who seeks by his manifold gifts to 
rescue and save men : who seeks for men who shall 
worship Him. 

In contemplating such a mission, whatever has 
been said of preliminary matters would apply 
equally in the present case. 

The next thing to be determined is, as to Avho 
shall have the responsibility of conducting the mis- 
sion. This would in such case most properly de- 
volve upon the rector projecJ^ing the mission. Of 
course he would from time to time advise with his 
brethren with reference to any prudential matters 
about which there might be a question, and in 
neglect of which he might find himself sorely em- 
barrassed. 

But providing suitable help for the preaching, 



98 Aggressive Work. 

will be likely to prove the great bnrtlien in his 
preparation. In procuring this, let him take to 
mind what he desires in the way of preaching, and 
then engage if he can such clerical aid as will most 
nearly answer to this desire. The following from 
Pere Nampon * will be found saggesbive. 

" The lime of a Mission is distinguished as a 
season of altogether special religious privileges and 
graces. The Missioner differs from the Parish 
Priest, in that his ministry is an extraordinary one, 
intended to produce great fruits in a short space of 
time, and therefore using greater force, richer in 
appliances, more urgent in its call. The Mission 
sermon, accordingly, should be distinguished by 
being more vigorous in its attack, v/armer in its 
language, more pressing in its invitations, more 
viv:d in its narrative, more incisive in its applica- 
tion, as well as more profoundly searching. The 
Missioner should be like some powerful athlete, of 
taller stature, freer play of limb, more sinewy arm, 
more vigorous heart than his fellows, who always 
goes straight to the mark, pursues, presses on, seizes 
his enemy, — but only to embrace him, raise him up, 
save him, bring him to heaven. 

"While the Missioner should be more vehement 
and more pathetic than the ordinary preacher, he 
ought also more than others to take care that he is 
always natural and straight-forward. As one speak- 



*Manuel du Missionnaire, iii. § 10. 



A Mission ivitJiout an Evangelist, 99 

iiig in the name of God, he must be grave, rever- 
ent, exact, authoritative, and even invested with a 
degree of majesty. His word must have that som^e- 
thing sacramental which commands religious at- 
tention and calls forth submissive respect; but at 
the same time he must beware lest, thus surround- 
ing himself with the halo of a teacher, he fall into 
an exaggeration of emphasis, into pretentiousness^ 
or an inflated style, or appear either extravagant, 
hard, domineering or fanatical. He is a man speak- 
ing to his fellow-men, and should speak their lan- 
guage and reason and think like them. He must 
ever be clear, kindly, penetrated with the truth of 
his message, and never trivial, vulgar, affected or 
fulsome. In short, the true Missioner should unite 
in himself dignity and simplicity, authority and be- 
nevolence, much that is acquired, with much of 
what is implanted in him by nature, the supernat- 
ural and divine "character of the messenger of God, 
with the humility and sympathy of a man dealing 
with his brethren.'' 

Let him engage if he can a rector most nearly 
answering to this description. And if so be that 
he find one with anything like the requisite gifts 
and graces, let him secure him for the entire mis- 
sion if he can, and if not for the whole time for 
which the mission is arranged, then for as much of 
the time as he can ; since one man so endowed, and 
once arresting the attention and drawing to him- 
self the sympathies of a congregation, will usually 



100 Aggressive Work. 

do more in his sermons, and make more consecu- 
tive and pertinent and effective the line of thought 
properly pursued from evening to evening, than 
can possibly be done by the constant introduction 
of a new man with a new voice and manner, a dif- 
ferent temper of mind, and possibly bringing w^ith 
him a sermon which for many reasons may be found 
wholly irrelevant to the wants of the congregation. 
Failing, however, of obtaining sucli a helper 
from the rectorial staff of the region, another and 
very good method will be to engage if possible, 
as many clergymen as there are evenings in the pro- 
posed mission, naming to each the topic you desire 
him to discuss. Supposing you have planned for a 
mission of ten evenings, the following or similar 
topics may be arranged for : — 

1. The Authenticity of Holy Scripture. 

2. The Evidences of Christianity. 

3. The Unreasonableness, Obliquity, and Logical 
Fruits of Infidelity. 

4. Faith, its Character, Foundation and Fruits. 

5. Repentance, What it is not, and what it is. 

6. Conversion, Distinguished from Regeneration. 

7. The Spiritual Life. 

8. Sacraments and Eeligious Ordinances. ^ 

9. The Work of the Church as one with its Di- 
vine Head. 

10. Confirmation, its Character and Immediate 
Importance. 

A somewhat different train of thought would be 



A Mission witliout an Evangelist, 101 

suggested by the following order of topics : 1. The 
Existence and Attributes of God; 2. Moral Obli- 
gation ; 3. The fall of Man or Human Depravity ; 
4. The Atonement; 5. Holiness, or Practical 
Christianity; 6. Historic Christianity; 7. Christi- 
anity in its Relation to Science; 8. The Charac- 
ter and Importance of Religious Worship ; 9. Con- 
firmation ; IC. Missionary Work at Home and 
Abroad. 

And again. In some communities the following- 
topics would be more likely to secure attention, 
particularly in such communities as are very nearly 
devoid of interest in religious things, — 1. God; 2. 
Diabolos — opening up the whole subject of spirit- 
ual existence — 3. Heaven; 4. Hell ; 5. Creeds; 
6. Manhood; 7. Womanhood; 8. Crime; 9. Man 
in Death; 10. The Hereafter. These and similar 
topics the hard-headed and thinking men of the 
age are constantly speculating upon and it is no 
more than right and proper that such as can should 
answer their queries, and bring them to God's mar- 
velous light. 

During the Advent Season the following might 
serve to better effect if in a Church : 1. The First 
Advent of our Lord as marked on the page of 
prophecy. 2. The First Advent considered as a 
Fact. 3. Truths taught and implied in the Incarna- 
tion. 4. Tlie Second Advent considered as a great 
Practical Doctrine. 5. Prophecy showing the near 
^ipproach of the Second Advent. G. The Interme- 



102 Aggressive Work, 

diate state. 7. The Kesurrection. 8. The Saints' 
Inheritance. 9. Day of Judgment. 10. Prepara- 
tion. 

During Lent a course should be pursued having 
more special reference to the Lenten Season, par- 
ticularly if in a Church, only let the subjects be so 
arrauged as not to anticipate the rector in the course 
of thought he would naturally pursue during Pas- 
sion Week, unless this week be included in tlie mis- 
sion. 

Determining beforehand the topics to be discussed 
in such a mission, will have this special advantage, 
it will enable the rector conducting the mission to 
so plan his instructions and meditations, with 
which he should follow every discourse, that he 
can lead on the minds of the people in that contin- 
uous way which will alone be likely to secure the 
immediate and perceptiblefruit, he is laboring for. 

In conference with his clerical brethren, let the 
clergyman planning the mission, say frankly to 
them severally, that though the topics to be dis- 
cussed are of themselves so vast, he must request of 
them that they so prune and compress their dis- 
courses as to bring them within the space of thirty 
or forty minutes if such a thing be possible. This 
will not only make the discourses less ethical, less 
like labored disquisitions and more practical, but 
will also serve to shorten the services. And this 
w^ill be an important consideration particularly un- 
til the congregation becomes thoroughly interested. 



A Mission ivitliout an Evangelist, 103 

If tlie sermon is lengthy, and specially if both 
lengthy and dry, the clergyman will be very much 
inclined to cnt short or possibly omit the exercise 
for instruction, which in such a mission ought but 
for very special considerations to follow every ser- 
mon; only marking that it will be important to 
have a spirited hymn sung after the sermon. This 
serves to relieve the congregation from the weari- 
ness of sitting, while at the same time carrying on 
the process of thought and feeling proper to the 
occasion. 

When the interest becomes well developed, the 
people w^ill not so much care to notice the passage 
of time. And sometimes, possibly in part for the 
novelty of the occasion, they will sit hours to- 
gether without any apparent weariness. We once 
saw a large congregation gathered in a seated grove 
— at a mission in Iowa — wherC; on rough seats the 
people continued to sit with the utmost quietness 
and attention to the services, for several hours, hav- 
ing in the time, without intermission, full Morning 
Prayer, (being Sunday,) Baptism, the ordering of 
a Deacon, Confirmation, and the Holy Communion, 
together with a sermon. So deeply were the peo- 
ple impressed that after a repast they were ready 
to resume their places for another service and ser- 
mon. But rectors who have found it almost im- 
possible to gather their congregations during the 
week, will readily feel the importance of such a 
course as will not repel the people when once they 



104 Aggressive Work. 

are drawn together. Indeed, it is only real reli- 
gious fervor that will so gather the people, or suc- 
ceed in holding them for any considerable time — a 
fervor, we should say, kindled by the Divine Spirit. 
There can no longer be any question as to the 
comparative value of a written or an extemporized 
sermon, although equally suggestive, compact and 
readily delivered. If exactly equal in these respects, 
tlie sermon without a manuscript \\'\\\ as a rule, be 
worth infinitely more for the occasion than will be 
a sermon read to the hearers. And it is now 
known that a sermon without a manuscript may 
be as rich in thought as wiien fully Avritten out. 
And it is greatly to be regretted that this Apostolic 
mode of preaching the Gospel is not more common 
within this branch of the Church. But in making 
ready a wa'itten sermon for a mission, we would 
suggest that after being written, the sermon then 
be studied, as they who successfully preach without 
notes study their sermons — until ever}- point and 
thought is thoroughly impressed upon the memory: 
until the mind is thoroughlj' surcharged with one 
subject and becomes impatient for the time of deliv- 
ery. And it may also be vrell to leave so large spaces 
in the manuscript, that the preacher can easily im- 
provise a sentence or a paragraph now and then, if so 
be that he find himself led to this, and can then 
readily return to the exact place of his departure. 
Preachers entering fully into the spirit of a mission, 
will very often, and sometimes very unexpectedly 



A Missmi without an Evangelist, 105 

find themselves so moved by a present inspiration, 
by a thought flashing npon their minds, that it 
will be the greatest relief to step one side and let 
the divine spark passing through their own minds 
leap out upon the minds of their congregation. 

Also let those who write sermons for missions, 
constantly remember their object is to call sinners 
to immediate repentance ; and for this end let them 
plan their sermons from beginning to end. It is to 
carry the citadel of sin, and achieve a victory for 
Christ and the Church. 

Of course, whatever applies to the importance of 
unceasing, fervent, intercessory prayer, to the Ser- 
vice of Song, and to personal contact, (of which 
we remark presently,) will apply alike to a mission 
with or without an Evangelist. For it will be 
found in the sequel that these matters, though sec- 
ond in the plan for preaching, are yet indispensa- 
ble to a successful mission. 



CHAPTER VII. 



OTHER CONSIDERATION'S IMPORTANT 
TO A MISSION 

Personal Contact — Auricular Confession — Worlc 
for all — Joy wiili ilie A^ngels — ''From liouse to 
liouse'^ — Tlte Crusade — Class instruction — Lay- 
lielp — Sacraments — Pliysiccd conditions — A Mis- 
sionary meeting — Length of a Mission. 

1. Personal Contact, — The "work of Prayer., 
preaching and public instruction having been con- 
sidered, we next come to a work scarcely less im- 
portant to the success of a mission. It is what can 
be realized only by leaving the vrork of the pulpit, 
which in any wise has about it both the elements 
of attraction and of repulsion — and unfortunately, 
sometimes more repulsion than attraction — and 
coming down to the work of dealing with individ- 
uals. This is often the hand-to-hand fight where 
alone the rebellious heart Vv'ill finally yield. It is, 
however, the place where the giant often falls at the 
hand of the young shepherd. A work contempla- 
ted not more by the ^' right hand of fellowship,^' 
and ultimately the "laying on of hands,'' introduc- 



Considerations importcmt to a Mission. 107 

tory to open communion, than in the germ-idea of 
the Christian brotherhood. It is personal contact, 
bringing soul to soul, mind to mind, heart to heart. 
It has for its basis that intermediate work through 
which God's miracle of life is realized. It is analo- 
gous to the case of the Shunamite's son (2 Kings 
iy.) that did not revive by having the staff of God's 
prophet laid upon him ; not until with prayer, the 
propliet ^^put his mouth upon his mouth, and his 
eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands,'^ 
that ^^the soul of the child came into him again and 
he revived.^' (1 Kings xvii.) It is that element 
which, sanctified by prayer, is no more important 
to a successful pastorate, than it is to the work of 
the Evangelist. Indeed, w^e are free to say that 
judging from observation, from what we know of 
human nature and of God's ways, we do not be- 
li(^-ve there is any immediate substantial success to 
be expected from a mission where this important 
factor is left out. It would be like taking away the 
Confessional from the Church of Eome, and the 
"mourner's bencli'^ or "inquiry meeting'^ from the 
so-called revivalist— the very pillars and props of 
their temples. The most able, pungent and per- 
suasive sermons may be preached, and were it pos- 
sible, with the greatest religious fervor attending 
them, yet very little fruit will be reaped where this 
instrumentality is neglected. The preaching is the 
drag-net, which, though drawn to the shore, still, 
if then the haul of fishes be not taken in hand, of 



108 Aggressive Work, 

course they are left to perish on the strand or be- 
come the prey of wolves and ynltures. And we 
might perhaps better spare ourselves the toil of 
these fishers of men, than when having gathered 
men to hear the Gospel, we then do nothing further 
to eflfect the spiritual cure of their souls. 

That "we are justified by faith only, is a most 
wholesome docfcrine, and very full of comfort." And 
it is equally true that "faith cometh by hearing." 
But, when so hearing and believing, there is then 
a movement in every soul, a desire more or less in- 
tense according to the measure of faith entering 
into it, which reaches out and has for its object 
that religious life, the full complement of which 
can be realized only in the Communion of Saints. 

This that we recommend may be regarded as the 
swaddling bands, with the nursing and nourishing 
of this new-born faith. It is the soothing and 
cheer which come from gentle and kindly voices, 
and the warmth and comfort ministered by loving 
hands, which the new believer has a right to ex- 
pect within that household where the Father of all 
is truly adored and worshipped, and where, too, the 
Father and the Son abide by the indwelling of the 
Divine Spirit. 

Is it not true that for this very work of which 
we now speak, this tender individual care for one 
another, and especially for the lambs of the fold — 
this which, we insist upon it, must supplement the 
efforts of the pulpit in the mission — is it not true 



Considerations irnportant to a Mission. 109 

that without this, the Spirit of God will be quench- 
ed, and the budding of a new life dying out, the 
labors of the pulpit will be abortive ? Is it not of 
the yery essence of Christianity, to care ^ ' one for 
another,'^ while it is the spirit of a murderer which 
asks ^'Am I my brother's keeper?'' 

And this, so far from being the mysterious work 
effected by the incantations or exorcism of some 
spiritual magician, or " Confessor '' in secret, is to 
the contrary, so simple, so common-sense-like that 
any and all knowing in their own hearts the bless- 
ed fellowship of Christ's religion, may and should 
take part in it. Auricular Confession in the Eo- 
man Catholic Church, has for its foundation the 
^SSacrament of Penance," so-called, adjudged by 
that Church to be a prerequisite to the reception of 
the mass. And this pretended Sacrament is of 
nothing worth unless followed by "I absolve you — 
Bgo te absolvo^^ — by the priest. For such a con- 
fession and absolution there are no provisions what- 
ever in the Protestant Episcopal Church. That, in 
the Communion office, sometimes referred to in 
this connection, contemplates neither private con- 
fession nor private absolution. It is only "godly 
counsel and advice," which the "minister of God's 
Word" ought certainly to be able to impart, if fit 
for his calling. 

And so far from there being any mysterious 
thing accomplished by those having in charge a 
mission — by which some would make it appear that 



110 Aggressive Work, 

if not Jesuits, we are akin to " Mystery Babylon" — 
we affirm to the contrary^ that there is no mystery 
appertaining to this work Avhateyer, save the mys- 
tery of the invisible Spirit of God working in the 
deep recesses of the human heart. ^"The wind 
bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound 
thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh^ and 
whither it goeth. So is eyery one that is born of 
the Spirit." 

The Spirit pervading the congregation ought to 
prompt all to enter upon this work with the great- 
est animation. For this, however, we would re- 
commend, first, that such as desire to speak with a 
"minister of God's Word," with reference to the 
matter of personal faith, be requested to remain for 
a brief time after the congregation is dismissed — 
when, also, let as many of the faithful of the congre- 
gation as will, remain and take part in carrying out 
the spirit of these instructions. But here let it be 
observed, that to stay and sit in mute silence, while 
the Evangelist or pastor or both go about seekiug 
to find out and know the lambs of the fold, would 
probably prove no less than instantly fatal to the 
interest of the occasion. To avoid this, let all un- 
derstand the work now is like that of a hand-to- 
hand fight, for which anything like maneuvering ac- 
cording to military tactics, is out of the question. 
Let then all w^ho remain for this brief space, rise to 
their feet and proceed to speak V\^itli those remain- 
ing, seeking out and reporting the good cheer gra- 



Considerations important to a Mission, 111 

ciously vouchsafed them, and for which, with the 
angels in Heaven, it is now presumed they may 
rejoice. Should there be one soul present who, 
turning from darkness desires to know the fellow- 
ship of Christ — rich or poor, black or white — let as 
many as can cheer such a one. Should the interest 
demand some further time than was anticipated, 
let whoever may be conducting the exercises pause 
and report whatever cheering facts he can — with- 
holding names, of course — and ask of those present 
that they will give thanks or praise to God ; or let 
this conclude the exercise. 

Sometimes those remaining will realize more 
satisfaction if they can be assured that those whose 
sympathies now encircle them, will remember them 
and plead for them in their prayers. Only let not 
any special exercise of prayer be once thought of as 
necessary before believing on the Lord Jesus Christ 
with full purpose of heart. "'^For with the heart 
man believeth unto righteousness, and Avith the 
mouth confession is made unto salvation.^' (Eom. 
X. 10.) 

Sometimes these exercises may take on^ the 
character of a common "Missionary meeting/' or 
be such in reality ; and one or two such, ought as 
a rule, to be held during the course of the mission. 
But in any case they may by a little right direction, 
be made occasions of great profit. And we know 
of but one reason why this may not be the case, 
and tliat is where the Novena and every exercise of 



112 Aggressive Work, 

real fervent prayer has been neglected so that spir- 
itual torpor and death reign in the hearts of the 
nominal comnmnicants present. For what moye- 
ments, and especially may we ask what moyements 
having for their object the promotion of life^ can 
be expected of souls wrapt in the unfeeling em- 
brace of death! From such souls, or where there 
has been no becoming preparation for a mission, 
let there be but little or nothing anticipated from 
such exercises as these. 

But a second method for carrying out the spirit 
of these instructions, and one that can hardly be 
too strongly recommended is, the going "from 
Itoicse to liouse:^ This is a strikingly Apostolic 
method (Acts xx, 20 ; Gal-, ii. 2, ) which energetic- 
ally and faithfully carried out, will be found sur- 
prisingly fruitful. Let as much time, and as many 
as can, be occupied in this work, minding of course 
that they do not trench upon the hours sacred to 
prayer and the preparation of sermons. Although 
it may be premised that in many instances this 
course will not be pursued very long before the in- 
terest Avill be such that those carrying on the mis- 
sion will have all they can reasonably do to meet 
those who will voluntarily find their way to the 
Church for instruction and encouragement. 

2. A Crusade is the rather formidable name giv- 
en by somebody in England, to indicate a special 
service for the male portion of the congregation 
only, at which a discourse, or several addresses, may 



Consideratio7is important to a Mission, 1 13 

be given against either the sin of uncleanness or 
drunkenness^ or both. The hour suggested is ten 
o'clock at night. 

It is suggested that ^^The Litany of the Holy 
Name (in prose), is a good prayer with which to 
begin such a service, after a few introductory w^ords. 
The address which follows, should not in general, 
last longer than fifteen or twenty minutes. The 
service is concluded with extempore prayer.'^ A 
pledge is also recommended. 

But this language, if intelligible, is certainly not 
recognized as legitimate to the ecclesiastical nomen- 
clature of American Churchmen. We suspect it 
has in it more of novelty than utility ; and yet it 
may afi*ord a valuable hint. The sins aimed at are 
certainly of alarming prevalence in this country, 
though how they may be most effectually treated, 
remains an open question. 

3. Class Instruction. — It has been our habit to 
organize classes for instruction as soon as circum- 
stances will permit. These are classes for Confirm- 
ation, or for Bible reading. They should meet in 
the afternoon, and must be conducted according to 
circumstances or methods which the occasion will 
most readily suggest, varying of course, with the 
character of the community in which we are placed. 
But they afford a grand opportunity for the youn 
disciple to become well grounded in the faith, and 
also give opportunity to so furnish them- 
selves that they may be ready always to give an 
5* 



to 



114: Aggressive Work, 

answer to every man that asketli them, a reason of 
the hope that is within them. (1 Pet. iii. 15.) They 
are also invaluable as opportunities for giving spe- 
cial instruction in many things appertaining to the 
Sacraments and Services of the Church, which 
would not so readily fall within the compass of a 
popular discourse. 

The names of such as join the classes should be 
kept and added to, if possible, at every sitting. 

4. Lay lielp^ as has been suggested, will be found 
particularly useful in carrying out the instructions 
of this chapter. Men and women whose hearts 
have been prepared after the manner suggested, 
cannot fail to render valuable aid in this work. 
Their sturdy faith will hardly fail to so stir up the 
community, to make such true and hearty respon- 
ses, to so inspire the spirit of joy and song, while 
with prayer they shall so stay up the hands of the 
heavenly embassador declaring God's message, that 
they shall truly be like Aaron and Hur in staying 
the hands of Moses in the day of battle. 

The Kingdom of Heaven is like leaven hidden 
in three measures of meal; (St.^Matt. xiii.) mix- 
ing leaven with meal is suggestive of an agitation 
certainly quite proper to the sanctified lives 
and consecrated lips of the devout laity. Prob- 
ably few realize how much they can contribute 
to the interest of a mission by their ^4ioly con- 
versation and godliness.'^ (2 Pet. iii. 11.) And 
alas for the Protestant Episcopal Church, should 



3 



Considerations important to a Mission, 115 

the day ever come .that she would need go forth to 
battle without the united and obedient march of 
her laity, marshaled as in a solid and imposing 
phalanx I 

5. 21ie Sacraments of Baptism, and the Holy 
Communion; should be placed before those who 
may have until now neglected one or both of these 
ordinances of Divine appointment. And for the 
more successful and happy termination of the mis- 
sion, it would be well, were it possible always to en- 
gage the presence and assistance of the Bishop for 
the conclusion, when such as were prepared might 
be admitted to Confirmation. 

In new fields, it might also be particularly desir- 
able to instruct those newly interested, in the use 
of Liturgical services and the anthems and plain 
song of the Church. Such stations will be special- 
ly benefited should the Evangelists, one or both of 
them, visit the place again after a few weeks, to 
strengthen the newly converted, and advise with 
the missionary or rector having the place in charge. 

6. The pliysical conditions are also of too great 
importance to be passed by in this connection. 

Conditions dependent upon the state of the 
weather, althougli favorable or possibly fatal to a 
mission, are of course beyond our control. But 
such as relate to the convenience, comfort and 
health of the congregation, and especially of those 
directing the mission — upon whom so much de- 
pends — certainly deserve attention. 



UG Aggressive Worh 

If the congregation is small and scattered, they 
should by all means be requested to come forward 
and sit together. Ventilation should be scrupu- 
lously cared for, but a draught of air on a person 
is always perilous, and may prove fatal to the health 
and possibly the lives of all concerned; and so 
bring the mission to a speedy and sad termination. 
So also the health of those conducting the mission 
should be carefully guarded. We were once at- 
tending a mission, and lodged in a small bed-room 
which we afterward learned had not long before 
been plastered. This was in Avinter; and it is 
questionable whether the attendant discomfort or 
peril occasioned by the dampness can well be im- 
agined. Upon another occasion we were lodged in 
the North West chamber of a house where the wind 
was blowing a gale, the mercury far below zero, 
and had for a bed a pallet of straw, a single sheet, 
and insufficient covering. A man who leaves his 
own cozy fireside and family, for a Avork of love 
among strangers, ought not to be subjected to such 
an experience anywhere, hoAvever great his desire 
to cultivate the habit of self-denial. For while 
with his family he might be the center of a refined 
social circle in a goodly city, it would seem to be 
enough that he leaves all this for a work among 
strangers, Avithout being also denied the comfort of 
an Indian's dogs that may at least recline on their 
furs and sleep by the Avigwam fire. 

Too generous hospitality is, hoAVCA^er, the too 



Considerations important to a Mission, 117 

common evil likely to be met. Inattention to eat- 
ing, sleeping and exercise will produce a torpor of 
body and mental indisposition most certainly fatal 
to the mission, however exact and favorable the 
other conditions may be. Those having the mis- 
sion in charge will hardly take too much pains to 
keep bright and lively every faculty of body and 
mind. A late and abundant dinner, or a hearty 
supper, v/ill in nine cases out of ten, make the ser- 
mon of the eveniug less effective than it otherwise 
Y/ould have been, and will probably make the at- 
tempt a failure. These and similar points must 
not be foro'otten. 

o 

7. A Missionary Meeting, as already suggested, 
will be found valuable. It may take the place of 
the usual sermon, or it may follow in place of the 
usual instruction and meditation. 

By all means let there be fall preparation. There 
should be several addresses interspersed with spirit- 
ed hymns. In these addresses there may be a gen- 
eral discussion of the progress of Missionary work, 
with a collation of whatever facts may have a bear- 
ing upon the question in hand. If possible, secure 
the help of several laymen for this occasion, who 
should be previously pledged so that tliere may be 
no disappointment at the time. The addresses 
ought ahvays to be brief. 

This may also prove a very fitting exercise for 
the last evening of the mission, and afford a partic- 
ularly proper occasion for receiving the pecuniary 
aid proposed for the work of evangelization. 



118 Aggressive Work. 

TJie length of a missio?i sometimes becomes a 
question of considerable importance. 

We have never witnessed sucli entreaties for help 
as when at the expiration of a fortnight's hibor, 
prior engagements compelled ns to bring a mission 
to a close. — It was said. The fallow ground is just 
now broken up, and the way is prepared to accom- 
plish more in one week than has been accomplished 
during the fortnight past, which was most undoubt- 
ly the case. And if ever there has been a regret 
which seemed likely to give us pain when remem- 
bered, all the way through life, it has been because 
we were obliged to leave a mission-field under such 
circumstances. We have seen the face of a whole 
community changed by such labors, so that where 
before was abounding sin, there is now holiness ; 
and where before there was loathsome blasphemy, 
there is now the hearty praise and worship of Al- 
mighty God. But such extensive results can hard- 
ly be expected without protracting the mission. 

In such case it will be well on every account, if a 
helper can be sent forward to the place of the next 
mission, and a work of so great interest be contin- 
ued. 






CHAPTER VIIL 



RESULTS ORGANIZED— THE GUILD, 

Success — Live men^' Liibecile PiilpiV^ — An ada- 
wantine obstacle — Small gatlifrings — Francis de 
Sales — A liandful of corn on the mountains — Im- 
portance of character — The Brotherhood or Guild 
— A. vital ivant met — Suggestions and plans for 
effecting an organization — The Final " Well done,^^ 

K few words about results. — What constitutes 
success, and how are the results to be secured ? 
These are considerations of importance in conclud- 
ing the treatment of this subject. 

Though well to remember that God's ways of es- 
timating results may be yery unlike ours — and, 
although it is always safe in the performance of 
duty to leave results with Him, who may make 
what at the time shall seem to us a defeat most 
conducive to His glory — yet we count it proper to 
meet those who are more than willing to criticise 
this work, with the most candid consideration. 
These men ask. What will it all amount to ? Will 
it not prove like every other '' sporadic thing,'^ or 
possibly leave a community in a worse state than it 



120 Aggressive Worh, 

found it? This is certainly possible. But we 
would like to point to a thousand rectors who with 
abundant livings and the richest opportunities, 
yet at the end of their journey possibly could not, 
for the life of them, prove that they had ever been 
instrumental in bringing into the fold of the Church, 
a single soul that might not have come in other- 
wise, or in the course of events, with which they 
had nothing to do directly. Or we would point to 
five hundred missionaries in our home field, costing 
the Church at large many thousands of dollars an- 
nuall}^, but placed in fields where with domestic 
burthens, embarrassments, misgivings and unutter- 
able griefs, they might labor to their lives' end 
without placing the Church on a self-sustaining 
basis, — and submit the question. Would it be fair 
to ask : " What will all this amount to ? '' If they 
have preached God's Word, if they have rightly and 
duly administered the Sacraments of the Lord's or- 
daining, if they have comforted such as mourn, if 
they have fed the sheep of Christ's fold — if, under 
the circumstances under which they were placed, 
they have done their duty to God and man, who 
will say it is not well, and will not be well with 
such at the last day ? 

And because a thing occurs only occasionally — 
like the work proposed for Evangelists — it by no\ 
means follows that it is not of intrinsic value. A 
shower on the parched earth, the victory won by a 
battle, a visitation by one of the Apostles — every 



Results Organized — Tlie Guild, 121 

one of wlioin was an Evangelist — are of none the 
less wortli because they do not recur at regular in- 
tervals. Men who^ it may be^ have all their life- 
time been idlers in the Lord's vineyard, and hoard- 
ing wealth, have cried meanwhile, "The temple of 
the Lord are we/^ ought to be very slow to call 
that a ^-waste" of talents or money which has every 
assurance of the Divine favor: which has only for 
its object the preaching the pure Gospel, the pluck- 
ing of souls as brands from the burnings, and the 
carrying forward the banner of the Church of the 
Living God. 

No. With true men engaged in this work, there 
is no failure. And if ever such a thing as success 
ought to be expected in Church work, then this 
ought to be the glory of such as have entered upon 
this work. And why not, if attempted under fa- 
vorable auspices ? 

Those who engage in this work should be thor- 
oughly live men — men whose lips have been touch- 
ed with a live coal from oflf the Altar of God. Thus 
the first great demand of the Church will be met. 
These men are then expected to preach seven times 
a week, and possibly make as many addresses — 
doing seven times the work of a common rector. 
Their work is also for those without the Church — 
whether the mission be held within a Church edi- 
fice or elsewhere ; so that really they work in new 
soil. Now such a work, having for its support the 
good will and liearty cooperation of the entire 



122 Aggressive Worlc, 

Church, ought certainly to be so fruitful as to be 
an acknowledo^ed success. 

This, however, will prove one of the most dis- 
couraging features — the difficulty with which the 
people will be persuaded to come out to a mission. 
This, not because they will ask, as of old, if any 
good thing can come out of Nazareth, but because 
those whom we seek being differently educated and 
having heard the cry of "Imbecile Pulpit," will 
not believe there is anything that can interest them 
where a Liturgy is used, and where, the most of 
them affirm, there is nothing to be expected in the 
way of a sermon better than a twenty minutes' es- 
say. This stupid prejudice has proved the most 
adamantine obstacle we have ever met. And some- 
times it seemed nearly impossible to get past this 
Gibralter. Indeed, such has been our experience, 
that we are of the settled belief that a mission re- 
peated as often as once every year, if within the 
limits of an established parish, w^ill increase in in- 
terest with a two-fold ratio at every repetition. 

But when all has been done that can be done, 
there should be no apprehensions of failure, al- 
though at the beginning, there are but very few 
willing to attend. The example of our Lord at the 
Well of Samaria, and the experience of the most 
successful preachers, will be remembered to our 
comfort. Says Francis de Sales : — ^' Eejoice greatly 
when on ascending the pulpit you find but a small 
number in Church. I have alwavs found more ef- 



Results Organized — The Guild. 123 

fected for the Service of God, when I have preached 
to small congregations, than when I have preached 
to large.'^ He affirms that he had sometimes preach- 
ed to no more than seven persons. It is God who 
asks — " Who hath despised the day of small things?^' ' 
And again it is written : "There shall be an hand- 
fnl of corn in the earth npon the top of the moun- 
tains ; the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon/' 
And this work of humility and obscurity may 
prove to be God's work of planting what to-day 
may seem no more than a handful of corn, but of 
which it may be said afterward, "'the fruit thereof 
shall shake like Lebanon/' Patient, persevering 
faith will insure success if such a thing be possible. 
The localities where we have labored with the 
least satisfaction have been where there was either 
a want of character — where, figuratively, there was 
no depth of ^earth — or wliQre from the nomadic 
character of the community there would be little 
probability of finding fruit in the season of fruit. 
This is particularly true of towns on the frontier, 
where people have not gone so much to make homes 
as they have to make money, and Vfhere for a con- 
sideration, very many, if not by far the larger num- 
ber, will be most sure to move on in a brief time. 
Li such communities it is very questionable wheth- 
er it is wise to spend much time so long as there are 
other fields ripe to the harvest, vv^herc what is gain- 
ed will be likely to abide. It must be remembered 
that the work r)roi">osed for new fields is foundation 



124 Aggressive Work. 

"work, for vvhicli there must be found people of sub- 
stantial character. We do not say they must be 
rich^ or refined, nor beyond the accusation of sin; 
but somewhere there must be found substantial 
character if the mission is to be a success. 

Finding such character, which, by the appliances 
of the Gospel will yield to the rule and plummet of 
the Master Builder, it is then of the first importance 
that such material be organized into the Spiritual 
Temple. Such is the design of the great Commis- 
sion, which requires not only that we preach, but 
also Baptise into the fellowship of the Triune Xame, 
teaching to obserye all things whatsoeyer the Lord 
has commanded. For this the usual Parochial 
forms are of course to be desired where they can be 
had. But whether there be the usual Parish or- 
ganization or not, the organization of a Brother- 
hood or Guild, may be found of great yalue in de- 
yeloping and carrying into detail w^hat is commonly 
termed Church Work. The cry of " Imperium in 
imjjerio/^ no more applies in such a case, than it 
would to a parish school or Church College, and 
esjiecially so long as the Guild remains under the 
personal direction of the rector. A yital want, of 
the Protestant Episcopal Church, is some method 
that yrill bring out and keep in healthful exercise 
the undeyeloped spiritual energies of its laity; and 
such a method, called by vdiat name it may be, is a 
God-send to the Church. 

Immediately upon men's being conyerted, their 



I 



esiilts Organized — The Guild. 125 

cry ^s like that of the converted Saul, of Tarsus: 
^•Lord what wilt thou have me to do V^ To both 
work and pray, becomes at once the instinctiye desire 
of the heart, '^ Young men will join us/'' said a dis- 
tinguished rector, "if we w^ill only give them some- 
thing to do." To find lawful place vvith the royal 
priesthood, the peculiar people, in offering to God 
the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, (1 Pet. ii.) 
is of course, the highest w^ork attainable. And for 
this we are persuaded notliing can so help the truly 
devout mind as the regular drill provided in the 
services of the Church. But heart, and hands, and 
feet are all consecrated, and all need to be employed 
if we v/ould maintain a normal condition, and rea- 
lize all that ought to result from adding to the 
living members of the Christian household. 

This will be most effectually realized by regular 
and fixed methods : by an organized plan. And 
this should be attempted, however small the num- 
bers, providing there are enough persons of charac- 
ter to effect an organization. The organization 
may be very simple — and the less complex the bet- 
ter, providing it compass the desired ends — and 
may be known by any name those interested may 
prefer. But a plan for doing what is to be done, 
should be drawn out and agreed to. 

This is most natural to men desiring to coope- 
rate with each other, wdiile most thoroughly in 
harmony with the spirit of that Church which is 
itself a living organism. 



1 



12G Aggressive Work, 

In this ^ay some of the most stupendous or- 
ganizations of the world had their beginnings. 
The most remarkable brotherhood of the Church 
of Home, had its origin in Ignatius Loyola, who 
began with a very small band of men like-minded 
with himself. The most remarkable illustration 
we have ever had of this in the Protestant world, 
may be found in the organized work of John Wes- 
ley. Beginning with the organization of a " Class'*' 
of four members, in Xovember, 1729, at Oxford, * 
he' continued to go from place to place, organizing 
classes as he went, which after his departure were 
still able to go on with Wesley's work. 

So also, wherever there may be a mission con- 
ducted to a successful issue, there will be the re- 
Tiving and quickening of spiritual energies ; where- 
upon let such as desire it, be placed immediately in 
position where they may find at least something in 
the way of work for Christ and the Church. 

The organization formed may be called a Broth- 
erhood, a Sisterhood, or a Guild, or by any term de- 
sired. Guilds are believed to have had their origin 
in the latter part of the Twelfth Century, but then 
had reference only to the corporations or associations 
of various craftsmen desiring to cooperate for com- 
mon ends. 

The object aimed at in the formation of such a 



* John TVeslej, Felloe' of Lincoln College, Charles Wesley, 
student of Christ Church, Mr. Morgan, commoner of Christ 
Church, and Mr. Kirham, of Merton College. 



Kesults Organized— Tlte Guild 137 

society within the Cliurcli, will comprehend at least 
the following among other points: — (1.) It will 
bring the members of the Society together in a so- 
cial way that will of itself prove yery conducive in 
promoting a common end, particularly wiien such 
Christian gatherings take place at regular periods. 
(2.) It w^ill be necessary to consider and define the 
character of the w^ork wdiich it is proposed to take 
in hand — which may be the services and general 
interests of the local Parish or Missionary Station 
to which the members of the society belono' — the 
spiritual welfare of the members — propagating 
Christian evidences — the promotion of w^orks of 
charity^ or the moral and social interests of tlie So- 
ciety^ or more properly, all of these combined. And 
to these, evangelization and missionary work ought 
by all means to be added. (3.) It w^ill necessitate 
the agreement of those interested, according to a 
fixed plan — wiiicli of itself wall effect ail organiza- 
tion. And when so agreed upon, the organization 
will certainly be much more likely to insure the 
promotion of Church v/ork than otherwise. 

With these considerations w^e would urge the or- 
ganization of such societies, wdierever they are not 
organized, as a part of the work that may vfell fol- 
low a successful mission. 

With a view to helping such as desire to avail 
themselves of suggestions calculated to aid in effect- 
ing an organization, w^e have appended the Consti- 
tutions of several organizations, Avhich we are sure 



128 Aggi^essive Work. 

will be examined with interest by those desiring to 
establish a similar society, and to whom the sub- 
ject IS yet comparatively new. * Of these we may 
remark, that while certainly comprehensive enough 
severally, they have, however, found specialties in 
work somewhat peculiar to their several localities ; 
as for example: One^ if we are rightly informed, is 
doing very much with a Dispensary ; another is 
particularly useful in rendering aid to indigent 
women; while yet another, St. John's, Ithaca, locat- 
ed in a town where there is alarp'e University with 
several hundred students^ has for its special object 
the interests of young men. With these we have 
also added the Constitution of another Society, but 
having for its object substantially the same general 
work. 

This much, however, must be remembered, that, 
however well organized, little or nothing will be 
accomplished unless the object of the organization 
be kept steadily in view, and its interests be vigor- 
orously and well administered. If it be truly for 
the glory of God, if it have for its object the true 
interests of a living faith, if it be to lift burthens 
from the shoulders of the oppressed, and to sweeten 
the otherwise bitter experiences of life — works of 
faith and love — the world will be the better for 
every such organization, if its spirit and purposes 
be carried out and made a practical reality in life. 



' See Appendix C. 



KesuUs Orgmiked — The Guild. 129 

But if only a nominal affair, if it be neglected, or 
its object be perverted as for example the objects of 
the Church are, when under the banner of Christ, 
men essay to serve the interests of the Church by 
games of chance, public gambling, licentious dan- 
ces and public minstrelsy — then who will not saj^, 
It would have been infinitely better to have no such 
representations or pretended friends of the Church. 
But let all be done in faith and with an eye sin- 
gle to the glory of God; let faith be ardent and 
earnest; let the spiritual life within be nourished 
and braced by daily prayer and a blameless walk, 
and a settled resolution to toorh for Christ and the 
Church, and while our most ardent desires shall be 
realized here, wdio shall estimate the hallov/ed satis- 
faction of feeling at the last. We have done what 
we could! or of hearing at the last the gladsome 
"Well done good and faithful servant: thou hast 
been faithful over a fev/ things * * enter thou 
into the joy of thy Lord ! '^ 



APPENDIX A. 



[It was after completing the last Chapter of this little vol- 
ume, that, by the politeness of the Kev. J. W. Bonham, Evan- 
gelist of Central New York, we received the Report of the 
Church Congress, at Leeds, (Eng.) Canon Fremantle's paper, 
the first read at this Congress, we regard as of too much im- 
portance to be omitted in such a volume as this.] 

Mission Seryices, ly the Very ReiK Canon Fre- 
mantle. 

"The wind bloAvetli where it listeth/^ is a truth 
which the History of the Church has illustrated 
froni the day of Pentecost to the .present moment. 
There have been alternations of calm and storm, in 
which it has pleased God to impart and revive spir- 
itual life. 

The records of religious movements which have 
taken place in America, Scotland, Ireland, Wales 
and England during the last one hundred and fifty 
years, will abundantly confirm this statement. 
There can be no question as to the fact that extra- 
ordinary manifestations of the Holy Ghost have 
been given, vast numbers of souls have been con- 
verted and added to the Chnrch, and that for the 
most part there has been a remarkable uniformity 
in the means which have been employed, and as 



Appendix, 

remarkable an agreement in the results which have 
been produced. Making every allowance for much 
that evaporates in excitement and sensation, and 
for the disappointment which is occasioned by the 
hypocrisy and heartlessness of time-serving pro- 
fessorS;, nevertheless there has been the same un- 
mistakable evidence of the work of the Holy Ghost 
in the general character of the persons brought un- 
der the influence of a revival, aad in tlie permanen- 
cy of its effects. 

These remarks apply to all the Churches and 
denominations of Christians in which such revivals 
have taken place. 

With a deep conviction of its truth, I proceed 
to that part of the subject which has been allotted 
to me, viz: the parochial system of the Church of 
England as a sphere for Mission Services, and other 
special means of spiritual influence in town and 
country population. 

With all its excellence and adaptation to the 
social habits of Englishmen, with all the love and 
veneration Ave bear to the quiet, orderly, uniform 
organization of our beloved Church, and I give 
place to no man in my hearty attachment to it ; 
yet if its standard of spiritual life be tested by the 
history of the past, it will not be found to have 
maintained an equable level of power and progi'ess 
at all times. It has its alternations of lukewarm- 
ness and zeal, of apathy and revival. From its very 
constitution, and strict conformity to ecclesiastical 



132 Aggressive Work. 

rule, its tendencyj and I may say its clanger, is to 
settle down into a dignified groove of formal rou- 
tine, and unless some stimulus had been given to it 
from time to time, it would have become like other 
Churches which have a name to live and are dead. 
But in no Church has the revival element been 
more marked than in the Church of England. Its 
existence as a Eeformed Church, originated in the 
genuine spirit of life which animated the Reform- 
ers, and its periodical awakenings must be traced 
to the same cause. Life has sprung up in the mo- 
ments of greatest apathy; and it is to be noted that 
just in proportion as the Church has cherished or 
rejected such manifestations of the Holy Ghost, she 
has gained or lost spiritual strength. If, for exam- 
ple, we compare the state of the Church before and 
after the exclusion of the non-conforming minis- 
ters, or at the time of the persecution of White- 
field, Wesley, Berridge, and Eov^lands, there can be 
no doubt but that the blessing of God was to a 
great extent withdrawn from the Church of Eng- 
land, and a very large ingathering of souls was 
vouchsafed to tliose v/ho had ceased to be of her 
communion. And it was not until iliQ Church en- 
couraged the preaching and labors of men who 
were looked upon with contempt, and spoken of 
as Dissenters, that the spirit of life entered with 
power into her bosom. It was w^hen the ministry 
of Venn and Scott and Simeon, and Bickersteth, 
and Wilson, became popular, that the revival re- 



Ap2)endix. 133 

turned into the channel of the Established Church, 
and this has continued steadily to make prog- 
ress unto the present time. This was emphat- 
ically the era of Missions, of Bible, Tract and 
Evangelical Societies, for propagating the Gospel 
among Jews and Gentiles at home and abroad. 
Among the agencies which have contributed to 
bring about this result, none have been more ef- 
fectual than the pulpit. What Mr. Eyle says of the 
revival of the last century, may be said of what has 
taken place of late, and is going on among us now. 
Mr. Kyle says ^^they preached everywhere. If the 
pulpit of a Parish Church was open to them, they 
gladly availed themselves of it. If it could not be 
obtained they w^ere equally ready to preach in a 
barn. No place came amiss to them. In, the field 
or by the road side, on the village green or in the 
market-place, in lanes or in alleys, in cellars or in 
garrets, on a tub or on a table, on a bench or on a 
horse-block, wherever hearers could be gathered 
the spiritual reformers of the last century were 
ready to speak to them about their souls." Can 
we wonder that it produced a great effect? And 
this is the agency which has been so signally owned 
of God in the Mission Services, which are becoming 
very general throughout the country. We have 
had for many years, various movements of this 
kind. We have had Advent Missions, Diocesan 
Conferences, Home Missions, ten days Missions, Oc- 
taves and courses of Lectures and gatherings of the 



134 Aggressive Work. 

most gifted and holy men^ botli of clergy and laity, 
for addressing large congregations on special occa- 
sions. And now the snbject has assnmed a more 
definite and regular form. We have Missions or- 
ganized and sanctioned by the Archbishops and 
Bishops of onr Churchy in which the revival ele- 
ment, by which I mean the power of Evangelical 
preaching is bronght to bear upon the masses of our 
population in strict harmony with our parochial 
system. The importance of these Missions cannot be 
over-estimated, for either they must become a 
most fruitful means of blessing or a very serious 
hindrance to the advancement of the Gospel. 

Time will not allow of rny doing more than 
stating wherein the success of a Mission, under 
God's blessing, consists, and this under the three 
following heads : — 

I. The Preparatives. 

II. The Agencies. 

III. The Results. 

1. The object of a Mission is to call upon God 
the Holy Ghost to revive His work ; to convert the 
ungodly and formal ; to convince of sin and unbe- 
lief; and to turn sinners from dead works to the 
service of the living God. 

Its one aim is to bring souls one by one to the 
point of accepting the gift of everlasting life. 

This, it may be said, is]the work of every paro- 
chial minister; but where is the clergyman who 
does not mourn over the indifference, the unbelief, 



I 



Appendix, 135 

and ungodliness of many who live in the habitual 
rejection of the Word of Life ? And where is the 
clergyman who would not welcome with thankful- 
ness any agency which would^ by God's blessing, 
kindle afresh the light of truth and love in the 
hearts of his people ? But every parish is not pre- 
pared for a Mission at a moment's notice. There 
must be time and labor given to prepare the minds 
of the people for the particular agency which is 
to be employed. From the correspondence I have 
had with several beloved brethren, in whose parish- 
es Missions have been held, and from some experi- 
ence in the work myself, I will venture to say that 
the success of the Mission depends mainly upon the 
work of preparation being thoroughly done some 
time beforehand. There should be no half-meas- 
ures; no fear of man; no hesitation when once it 
has been decided to hold a Mission. It must be 
plainly understood that the Mission is intended to 
embrace every individual — high and low, rich and 
poor. Advertisements with large placards, should 
be circulated, and short, pointed, pithy handbills 
should be sent to every house. Notices should be 
sent to the local papers ; committees of district vis- 
itors, parish workers, and Sunday School teachers 
and communicants should be formed. Prayer 
meetings and gatherings of persons of kindred sym- 
pathies and occupations — such as mothers, young 
men, and mechanics, should be held ; they must be 
urged to make a special effort to attend the Mis- 



fe 



136 Aggressive Work, 

sion services. Visits to employers of labor to ask 
tlieir assistance by affording facilities to their work- 
people : and personal appeals to those who are dis- 
posed to stand aloof and sneer at the Mission shonld 
be made ; and, above all, the prayers of all shonld 
be invited, both in public and in private, that the 
gift of the Holy <Thost may be abundantly given. 
And all this should be in operation some weeks be- 
fore the Mission commences. I extract the follow- 
ing from a letter received from the Rev. Mr, Pigou, 
of Doncaster : — '^ Thorough and elaborate organiza- 
tion is essential to the success of a Mission. The 
ground should be prepared some time before the seed 
of the Word is sovv^i. To our organization I largely 
attribute our success,, because we were all one, and 
did not by local disunion or rivalries grieve the 
Spirit of God.'' 

2. As to the Ao'encv : 

Let great care be taken in the choice of a preach- 
er, who has not only a gift but some experience in 
this special work, and in whom you can place en- 
tire confidence, and associate with himx and under 
him those, both of clergy and laity, who will assist 
in the addresses, prayer meetings, and after meet- 
ings. Short handbills, containing texts of Scrip- 
ture and appeals to the conscience, and hymns se- 
lected for the different services, shonld be distrib- 
uted at the door where services are held. Lay 
helpers should be selected to speak and invite tlie 
people in the streets to come to the Mission, and 



Appendix, 137 

after the sermons to attend the prayer meeting. 
They should assist at the singing of the hymns^ 
and should every one of them be urged to lift up 
their hearts in prayer while the sermons are being 
preached; and to lose no opportunity of entering 
into conversation with any to whom they may speak 
a word in season ; and take down the names of 
those who may desire instruction from the Mission 
preacher. The order in which the services should 
be conducted is of course dependent on local cir- 
cumstances; but the following arrangement is 
suggested by a clergyman of one of our great towns 
in which a Mission was most successfally carried 
on last year: — 

(1.) Morning meetings for prayer of the clergy 
and religious laity, with some earnest address on 
Mission work/ with the Holy Communion. 

(2.) Afternoon addresses by some competent 
speakers, in workshops, warehouses, railway sta- 
tions, etc. 

(3.) Evening sermons in Church or in School- 
rooms, as awakening and rousing as possible. 

(4.) After-meetings in school-rooms, as quiet as 
possible. 

I Avill add one remark upon this last point, for 
Avithout the dealing with individual souls the spe- 
cial object of the mission will not be attained. 
Those who have had any experience of such meet- 
ings will know how difficult, and in some cases 
how impossible, it is to restrain the expression of 
6* 



138 Aggressive Work, 

feeliug. Excitement there is and must be, bnt the 
object of the after-meenng, if I apprehend it aright, 
is to confine the excitement to the indiyidnah and 
as soon as there is any expression of anxiety to hare 
insti'nction, help, sympathy^ arrangements shonhi 
be made for briDging the person so affected into 
personal connection with the Mission preacher, or 
the clergyman of the parish, or some one specially 
appoioied for the purpose, in ao other room, or on 
the following day. I for one do not approve of 
clergy aad laity going abonr the room while the 
worshippers are oq their knees engaged in prayer, 
asking questions and snggesting texts of Scripture. 
TTe may be qnite sure the Holy Ghost will do his 
own wo]k; this moyiDg aboni at the most solemn 
moment of the service, distnrbs the order of the 
proceedings, and provokes exclamations and exhi- 
bitions of feeliag which might be far better re- 
strained. Notwithstanding, I am convinced that 
mnch good may be done by the wise and sympa- 
thizing management of the after meeting. It is the 
time for explanadon and answering of qnestions. 
It is the moment when, perhaps, for the first time 
the Bonl has been convinced of sin, and bronght 
face to J^tce with Jesns. The arrow has j^ierced the 
conscience, the wound is open and bleeding and 
very sore. Who shall ponr in the healing balm ? 
It is when the sinner is crying out — '-What mnst 
I do to be saved ? " that snch help can be, and, 
thank God, has been, again and again afforded. 



Appendix, 139 

Such then is the agency; and if this is continued 
for a wliole week, or rather beginning Avith a Sun- 
day and ending with a Sunday, so much the bet- 
ter. 

3. But I must hasten to speak of results. These 
will indicate the after-work of the Mission ; for the 
Mission week must not be regarded as the only 
time of gathering in the lost, and making converts, 
it is rather the beginning of the work to be carried 
on when the Mission preacher is gone aw^ay. The 
experience of missions has shown up to the present 
time that the attendance, especially of the poor, at 
the public services of the Church has increased ; 
that a large accession has been made to the number 
of communicants; and that there is more desire on 
the part of the people to come to their minister for 
spiritual counsel and prayer. In the report of the 
St. Pancras Mission, held last Xovember, the rector 
says — "The Mission has acted like a gulf stream of 
sympathy, thawing the ice of shyness and reserve, 
w^hicli to our mutual loss so often in England, and 
so especially among Church people, keep pastor and 
people in a w^retched isolation.'^ God grant that 
the ice now thawed may never be permitted to 
freeze again; and that all may use their ministers 
as their counsellors, guides, and friends on the road 
to Heaven. If then, effort and organization be re- 
quired to prepare for the Mission, the same or even 
greater diligence should be given to secure its re- 
sults. "The slothful man roasteth not that which 



-MO Aggressive Work. 

he took in liuiiting; but the substance of the dili- 
gent man is precious." (Prov. xii. 27.) And to 
this end the pastor must be prepared to gather 
around him earnest workers who will give their 
timCj their prayers^ and their zeal, to definite spheres 
of labor. There are few'^ if any, parishes which do 
not admit of a more effective and lively classifica- 
tion than that v/hich exists among us. Let there 
be som.ething beside the meeting of the Sunday- 
School teachers and the district visitors. When 
the hearts of a people are yearning for spiritual 
life, there will be room for a great variety of ar- 
rangement for instruction and mutual edification. 
Men's Bible Classes and Prayer Meetings; boys 
who have left school ; girls and mothers, in sepa- 
rate gatherings, as candidates for Baptism, Confir- 
mation and the Holy Communion ; a Saturday 
Sight Prayer Meeting; Monthly Missionary Lec- 
tures; these and other arrangements by which par- 
ticular classes of the people may be brought togeth- 
er under the immediate supervision of the pastor, 
will, by God's blessing, keep alive the coal which 
has been lighted upon the altar, and carry on the 
good work which has been commenced by God's 
blessing in the Mission. ISo doubt his labors will 
be greatly increased, but he will have the satisfac- 
tion and joy of knowing that it is easy and light 
and full of blessing. He will have a willing people 
around him thirsting for the water of life; holding 
up his hands with their prayers ; and approving his 



Appendix. 141 

efforts for tlieix good, with tlieir hearty sympathy. 
Those only who have seen the effect of a movement 
like this upon a congregation can appreciate dif- 
ference between preaching to a praying and an nn- 
praying audience; and those vfliose hearts have 
been quickened by tiie renevv^ing presence of the 
Holy Ghost will be quick to discern the grace, and 
power, and liberty which has been granted to their 
minister. The revival draws together the pastor 
and the people in a holy fellowship of freshened 
zeal and love, and gives a new impetus to all parish 
work. Where this is the result, it is the best evi- 
dence that can be given that the Church of Eng- 
land is worthy of the love and confidence of the 
nation. 



APPENDIX B. 



From a sermon preached in Cork^ by the Rev. 
John Wesley. Published in the Arminian Maga- 
zine, 1790. * 

On Hebeews v. 4. 

No man tafceth tJiis lionor unto himself j J)ut he that is called of God^ 

as was Aaron. 

1. There are exceeding few texts of Holy Scripture which 
have been more frequently urged than this against Laymen, 
that are neither Priests nor Deacons, and yet take upon them 
to preach. Many have asked, How dare any take this honor 
to himself, unless he be called of God, as was Aaron ? 

2. But there is one grievous flaw in this argument, as often 
as it has been urged. Called of God as was Aaron ! But 
Aaron did not preach at all : he was not called to it either by 
God or man. Aaron was called to minister in holy things : to 
offer up prayers and sacrifices : to execute the office of a Priest 
But he was never called to he a P readier, 

3. In ancient times the office of a Priest and that of a Preach 
er were known to he entirely d'stlnct ; and so every one will 
be convinced that impartially traces the matter from the 
beginning. 

******* 

5. Indeed in the time of Moses, a veiy considerable change 
was made, with regard to the Priesthood. God then appoint- 
ed, that instead of the first-born in every house, a whole tribe 

* Mr. "Wesley died 1791. 



Appendix. 143 

should de dedicated to Him : and that all that afterwards min- 
istered unto Him as Priests, should be of that tribe. Thus 
Aaron was of the tribe of Levi ; and so likewise was Moses. 
But he was not a Priest, though he was the greatest Prophet 
that ever lived, before God brought His first-begotten into the 
world. Meantime not many of the Levites were Prophets. 
And if any were, it was a mere accidental thing . * * * 

6. But we have reason to believe there were, in every age, 
two sorts of Prophets. The extraordinary, such as Nathan, 
Isaiah, Jeremiah, and many others, on whom the Holy Ghost 
came in an extraordinary manner. Such was Amos in parti- 
cular, who saith of himself (ch. vii. 14) "I was no prophet, 
neither a prophet's son. But I VN^as an herdman, and the Lord 
said unto me. Go, prophesy unto My people Israel. ' ' The ordi- 
nary were those who were educated in the schools of the proph- 
ets, one of which was at Ramah, over which Samuel presided. 
— 1 Sam. xix. 18. These were trained up to instruct the peo- 
ple, and were the ordinary Preachers in their Synagogues. In 
the New Testament they are usually termed Scribes, or 
vopLiKoi expounders of the law. But few, if any of them, 
were Priests. These were all along a different order. 

7. Many learned men have shown at large, that our Lord 
himself, and all His Apostles, built the Christian Church, as 
nearly as possible, on the plan of tho Jewish. So, the great 
High Priest of our profession sent Apostles and Evangelists to 
proclaim glad tidings to al the loorld, and then Pastors, Preach- 
ers and Teachers, to build up in the faith, the congregations that 
should be found. But I do not find that ever the office of an Exan- 
gelist was the same toitJi that of a Pastor, frequently called a 
Bishop. He presided over the flock, and administered the 
sacraments : the former assisted him and preached the Word, 
either in one or more congregations. I cannot prove from 
any part of the New Testament, or from any author of the 
three first centuries, that the office of an Evangelist gave any 
man a right to act as a Pastor or Bishop. I believe these offices 
were considered as quite distinct from each other, till the time of 
Oonstantine. 



144 Aggressive Work. 

8. Indeed in that evil hour, when Constantine the Great 
called himself a Christian, and jDOured in honor and wealth 
upon the Christians, the case was widely altered. It soon 
grew common for one man to take the v/hole charge of a con- 
gregation, in order to engross the whole pay. Hence the same 
person acted as Priest and Prophet, as Pastor and Evangelist. 
And this gradually spread more and more, throughout the 
whole Christian Church. Yet even at this day, although the 
same person usually discharges both those offices, yet ilte office 
of an Evangelist or Teacher does not im/plij iliat of a Fosior, 
to whom pecuharly belongs the administration of the Sacra- 
ments : neither among the Presbyteiians, nor in the Church 
of England, nor even among the Roman Catholics. All Pres- 
byterian Churches, it is well known, that of Scotland in par- 
ticular, license men to preach before they are ordained, 
throughout that whole kingdom. And it is never understood 
that this apiDointment to preach, gives them any right to ad- 
minister the sacraments. Likevdse in our own Church, per- 
sons may be authorized to preach, yea may be Doctors of Di- 
vinity, (as was Dr. Alwood at Oxford, when I resided there,) 
who are not ordained at all : and consequently have no right 
to administer the Lord's Sux3per. Yea, even in the Church of 
Eome itself, if a Lay-brother believes he is called io go a mis- 
sion, as it is termed, he is sent out, though neither Priest nor 
Deacon, to execute that office, and not the other. 

-}! * 4: * * * * 

In 1744, all the Methodist preachers had their first Confer- 
ence. But none of them dreamed that the being called to preach, 
gave them any right to administer sacraments. * * * * 

Did we ever cqypoint you to administer sacraments, to exercise 
the Priestly Office ? Such a design never entered into our mind : 
. it was tJie farthest from our thoughts. And if any Preacher had 
taken such a step, ice should have looked upon it as a palpable 
breach of this rule, and consequently a recantation of our con- 
nexion. * *** + ** 

Now as long as the Methodists keep to this plan, they can- 



i 



Appendix, 145 

not separate from the Church. And this is onr peculiar glory. 
It is new upon the earth. Revolve all the histories of the 
Church, from the earliest ages, and you will find, whenever 
there was a great work of God in any particular city or 
nation, the subjects of that v\'orlv soon said to their neighbors, 
" Stand by yourselves, for vre are holier than you ! " As soon 
as ever they separated themselves, either they retired into des- 
erts, or they built religious houses ; or at least formed parties, 
into which none Y»'as admitted but such as subscribed both to 
their judgment and practice. But with the Methodists, it is 
quite otherwise. * * * And I believe one reason why God 
is pleased to continue my life so long, is to confinn them in 
their present purpose, Not to sqyaratefrom the Chujxh. * * 
I wish all of you who are vulgarly termed Methodists, would 
seriously consider what has been said. And particularly you, 
v/hom God hath commissioned to call sinners to repentance. 
It does by no means folloio from hence, that ye are coramiss'ioned 
to baptise, or to adminuter the Lords Supper. Ye never dream- 
ed of this, for ten or twenty years after ye began to preach. 
Ye did not then, like Korah, Dathan and Abiram, seek the 
priesthood also. Ye knew, N @ a>i takdh this honor unto him- 
self , hut he that is called of (t™ , as icas Aaron. O contain 
3^ourselves within your own bounds. Be content with preach- 
ing the Gospel. Do the work of Evangelists. Proclaim 
to all the world the loving kindness of God our Saviour ; de- 
clare to all, The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand : repent ye 
and believe the Gosj)el. J r^iirnestly advise you, abide ^$ 
your place : keep your own siu -~ i . Ye were fxfty years ago, 
those of you that were then Methodist Preachers, Extraordi- 
naiy Messengers of God, not going in your own will, but thrust 
out, not to supersede, but to provoke to jealousy the ordinarj^ 
messengers. In God's name stop there ! 



In "Wesley's AVorks," we find him writing to the Rev. Mr. 
G., April 2, 1761, Vol, XIL, p. 21() : " I quite agree, wo * nei- 
tlirr ran he hf'iifv WOK nor hrftcr ris/f'ans. /!,(rii hy ranliiminrf 



146 Aggressive Work. 

members of the Church of EnglancV And not only her doc- 
trines, but many parts of her discipline, I have adhered to at 
the hazard of my Hfe." 

This was his judgment at the beginning of his work. Later 
on we have his mind on this matter in his sermon at Cork, as 
also in the following : 

1789. — " Unless I see more reasons for it than I ever yet saw, 
I will never leave the Church of England, as by law establish- 
ed, while the breath of God is in my nostrils." Vol. XIII. p. 
238. 

In this year (two before his death) Mr. Wesley wrote seven 
more reasons against separating from the Church. 

1790. — ''I have been uniform, both in doctrine and disci- 
pline, for above these fifty years, and it is a little too late for 
me to turn into a new path now that I am gray-headed. ' ' Vol. 
XII., p. 439. 



In the Church Journal of Aug. 21st, 1873, we find the follow- 
ing from the London Graphic, of July 30th, over the signature 
of K. W. Bandall : 

* 'Of the lamented Wilberforce, late Bishop of Winchester, it 
is affirmed, that, on the morning before he went up to attend 
the first committee for considering the form the Keble memo- 
rial should take, he said that he should like to see two colleges 
founded. * * * The second college he wished to see found- 
ed in some manufacturing town for a body of clergy who 
might give their assistance to the clergy of that town, but 
whose special work it should be to hold missions and preach 
courses of sermons in Lent and Advent, or on other occasions 
when they might be useful ; and for this , too, there is a more 
pressing need year by year, as such missions and courses of 
sermons become more frequent, while the ordinary parochial 
clergy have not leisure for tha preparation of such sermons as 
are required for this particular purpose, and cannot undertake 
to conduct missions without neglecting the work of their own 
parishes." 



Appendix. 147 

In the same connection it was said Bishop Wilberforce was 
tofhave made an address on ' ' The means of bringing the influ- 
ence of the Church to bear on the * masses,' " at the following 
Church Congress. Would th^^t his spirit of care for the spir- 
itual welfare of the masses of perishing men, might rest upon 
us all ! 



De. Hugh Miller Thompson lately said in the American 
Clmrchman, of reaching the masses, and also of training men 
for this purpose : — 

' ' There are masses outside our congregations to be instruct- 
ed and persuaded. There are masses outside the limits of any 
Christian organization w^hatever, and increasing masses. 
These the regular pastor never reaches. With these his pecu- 
liar and special power is no power at all. These we do not 

see that he can reach in any appreciable degree. 

******* 

*'To gather these masses together in all our cities and towns, 
to address them on their highest interests, to bring Christian- 
ity and its claims home to them, is the problem presented. 

"Now, to solve this, it is clear we want something more 
than our regular parochial preaching. 

* * * * «< It is a puerile blunder to suppose they can, 
to any extent, be touched by ceremonial or ritualistic pomp. 
On the other hand, it rather disgusts them. They are not to 
be caught by the eyes with scenery, nor by the nose with in- 
cense, but by the ears, with talk. Probably no people were 
ever so prone to be led by silvery speech. 

*' We have certainly not provided for this. We have so ar- 
ranged matters that we cannot use this tendency. This ordi- 
nary, respectable preaching of the parish pastor to his flock, is 
all we have, in any degree, provided for. The preaching ad- 
dressed to men as men, not as Churchmen, not even as Church- 
goers, but simply as men with souls, we have not provided 
for. 

*' Others have been wiser. We labor under a degree of 



148 Aggressive Work. 

sdifaess and dignity in our motions Yv^liicli leaves ns often be- 
hind. We tiave been left behind in this. Both Romanists 
and Protestants have in some measure occupied this innting 
field. Men trained to preach, men Ydth the gift of preaching 
developed in the most effective vray ; men who are not pastors, 
but preachers, as the main thing, are a recognized agency in 
Eomanism, and in all forms of common Protestantism, and 
they are to day at work all over the country. 

" We have provided for the pastoral work — iDriestly work. 
We have not provided for this preaching work, which, in a 
Church situated as we are, must be really, if it is to grov/, one 
of the largest and most needful of works." 



APPENDIX C. 



Constitution of the Pittsburyli ChurcJi Guild. 

Aeticle 1. Tliis corporation shall be known by the name 
of "Pittsburgh Church Guild." 

Aet. 2. Its objects are : — 

First. To establish and maintain a free reading room and 
library. 

Second. To furnish rooms and instructions for free evening 
classes in mathematics, drawing, and other studies for young- 
men who have not the time or means for other instructions. 

Third. To cooperate with the Bishop, in such works as he 
may suggest ; to assist in maintaining and diffusing the 
Church of Christ, by encouraging the regular attendance on 
divine worship ; hj the practice of piety, virtue and charity ; 
by teaching the ignorant, assisting the weak, and in general 
by doing works which Christian laymen can and should do. 

Fourth. To establish and promote such institutions and as- 
sociations under the auspices of the Church, as may conduce, 
by the divine blessing, to extend the cause of Christ. 

Fifth. To encourage the establishment of societies on this 
IDlan of organization, wherever it is possible throughout this 
Diocese, and to seek their cooperation in all things proper and 
needful. 

Aet. 3. All Clergymen of the Protestant Episcopal Church, 
resident in the Diocese, shall be e ■ oj'cio advising members, 
and in the absence of the Bishop, may conduct the devotions. 

Aet. 4. All baptized persons above the age of eighteen years, 
who are regular attendants upon the services of the Church, 
and who pledge themselves to participate earnestly in the work 
herein set forth, may become members, upon signing ihe Con- 



150 Aggressive Work. 

stitution and paying three dollars into the treasury. Remov- 
als from membership to be made as may be prescribed in the 
by-laws. 

Aet. 5. The officers of the Guild shall consist of the Visitor, 
the President, the Vice President, the Corresponding Secreta- 
ry, the Recording Secretary and the Treasurer ; all of whom, 
with the exception of the Visitor, shall be elected by ballot, 
from among the communicants of the Church, at the annual 
meeting. 

Art. 6. The Bisho of the Diocese, who shall be ex officio 
Visitor, shall have ful power, consistently with these articles, 
to supervise the Guild in its operations, and may preside at 
any meeting, and conduct the devotions. 

Aet. 7. That this Guild shall not have the power to change 
or encumber any real estate to which it may at any time ac- 
quire title, except with the written consent of a majority of the 
Standing Committee of the Protestant Episcopal Church of 
the Diocese of Pittsburgh. And in case of the dissolution of 
this Guild, all the propertyjthereof, real, personal and mixed, 
shall vest in said committee, as trustees, to be appropriated to 
some charitable fund in the Diocese, which shall be designat- 
ed by the Convention of the Diocese at a regular meeting 
thereof, and agreed to by a majority of those who shall be act- 
ing members of the Guild at the time of dissolution. 

Art. 8. With this Constitution for its guide, the Guild shall 
conduct its business by such rules and regulations as may 
from time to time be framed and adopted. 



Constitution of the Brotlierliood of St. Peter's 
Church, Baltimore. 

Aeticle 1. — Name, This organization shall be known and 
designated by the name of the Brotherhood of St. Peter's Pro- 
testant Episcopal Church of Baltimore. 



Appendix. 151 

* 

Aet. 2. —Objects. The objects of this Brotherhood shall be, 
to assist the Eector in the parochial work of the Church ; to 
increase and promote a spirit of missionary zeal and brotherly 
love among its members, to bring others, especially yonng 
men, under religious influences, and to work and pray for the 
extension of the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Art. Z.~ Member ship. ]^t£.c. 1. Any person of good moral 
character, can become a member of this Brotherhood, upon 
his name being presented by a member, and receiving a three- 
fourths vote of those present ; signing the constitution, and 
pajdng the usual fees. 

§ 2. Honorary members may be elected by the Brotherhood, 
and entitled to all the privileges of the same, upon the pay- 
ment of an annual fee of five dollars. 

§ 3. Any person may become a life member, upon the paj^- 
ment of a fee of twenty-five dollars. 

Aet. 4. — Officers. There shall be a President, Vice Presi- 
dent, Secretary, Treasurer, and Librarian. The Rector shall 
be ex-officio President. All the other officers shall be elect- 
ed by a majority of those present, at the annual meeting, to 
be held the first Monday of November in each year. 

Aet. 5 . — Duties of Officers. Sec. 1. It shall be the duty of the 
President to preside at all meetings of the Brotherhood ; and 
in his absence, the Vice President ; and in the absence of both, 
a President pro-tem. may be chosen. 

§ 2. The Secretary shall keep a record of the proceedings of 
all meetings ; notify all committees of their appointment ; have 
charge of records and documents of the Brotherhood, and sign 
all orders on the Trea? rer for money. 

§ 3. The Treasurer shall keep a full account of the funds, 
and disburse the same ander the direction of the Brotherhood. 

§ 4. It shall be the duty of the Librarian to keep a catalogue 
of, and have charge of all books and reading matter belonging 
to the Brotherhood, to enforce the rules of the Library, and 
make a quarterly report in writing to the Brotherhood. 

Xrt. Q,~- Committees. The following standing committees, 



152 Aggressive Worlc, 

to consist of not lesS than three members each, shall be ap- 
pointed b}^ the President, to serve for three months : 

1. Missionary Committee. 

2. Committee on the Sick and Poor. 

3. Committee on Strangers and Young Men. 

4. Committee on the Brotherhood Rooms and Library. 
Aet. 7. — Duties of Coimn- tees. Sec. 1. It shall be the duty 

of the Missionar}^ Committee to establish Sunday Schools and 
missionary stations, hold services, visit the jail, and diffuse 
general missionary intelligence. 

§ 2. It shall be the duty of the Committee on the Sick and 
Poor, to relieve them ; to provide for the burial of their dead, 
and to perform such other kindred duties, as shall be directed 
by the Brotherhood. 

§ 3. It shall be the duty of the Committee on Strangers and 
Young Men, to search out strangers and young men, and in- 
duce them to attend church ; to assist in showing seats to 
strangers attending the services of the church ; to assist in fur- 
nishing employment for those out of work, and induce persons 
to avail themselves of the Librarj^ 

§ 4. It shall be the duty of the Committee on Brotherhood 
Kooms and Library, to have charge of the rooms, and with 
the approbation of the Rector, and by vote of the Brotherhood, 
to purchase all books, periodicals, new^sjDapers, and furniture 
for the Library. 

§ 5. All standing committees shall be required to rej)Grt in 
v/riting, at each monthly meeting. 

Aet. 8. — Amendments. Any proposed alteration or amend- 
ment to this Constitution, must be presented in writing at a 
regular meeting of the Brotherhood, and at the next regular 
meeting it shall be acted on. A three-fourths vote of the 
members present, shall be necessary for its adoption. 



Appendix. 153 

Constiiution of the Guild of St. John^s Church, 
Ithaca. 

Art. 1. — Name and Object. This Society shall be known as 
the Guild of St John's Church, Ithaca, and shall have for its 
object, Church work according to the standards of the Protest- 
ant Episcopal Church in the United States of America. 

Art. 2. — Membership. Any person regularly attending di- 
vine service in St. John's Church, Ithaca, may become a mem- 
ber of this Guild by vote of three-fourths of the members pres- 
ent at any regular meeting of the Guild, the person so apply- 
ing making payment of the sum of fifty cents, and certifying 
to a desire to cooperate with the members of the Guild accord- 
ing to this Constitution. 

Art. 3 — Officers. The rector of St. John's Church shall be 
President, ex officio, of St. John's Guild, beside which there 
shall be a Vice President, Secretary and a Treasurer, who sball 
severally fulfill the duties common to their respective offices, 
and sh ill be appointed by ballot at an annual meeting held 
during the second week of September. 

Art. 4. — Methods of Work. —Sec. 1. From and after the an- 
nual meeting, there shall be a meeting of the Guild on the 
evening of the first Tuesday of every month. 

§ 2. The work of this Guild shall be efi'ected by the follow- 
ing or other Committees, to-wit : 

On Missions. 

On Sick and Poor. 

On Strangers. 

On Social Improvement. 

On the Sanctuary and Services. 

§ 3. The chairman of the aforesaid committees shall be ap- 
pointed at the annual meeting, and thereafter quarterly, by 
vote of the Guild. So appointed, said chairmen shall consti- 
tute a Rectorial Council, and shall severally take orders from 
the rector as to their course of action, except in so far as the 
same may be determined by the Constitution or By-Laws of 
the Guild. 



154 Aggressive Work, 

§ 4. Each member of the Guild shall signify to the rector 
which of the said committees will be preferred by such mem- 
ber, and so signifying his or her desire, said member shall be 
regarded as an elected member of such committee, providing, 
there shall at no time be a majority of all the members of the 
Guild, members of one committee, and providing also, that 
no committee shall at anj- time be left without three members . 

And furthermore, it shall be understood and agreed that 
everj' member of this Guild shall pay such tax as may by vote 
of the Guild be levied upon its members for the furthemnce of 
its work, and shall also hold himself or herself ready for the 
peifoi*mance of such duties as may be assigned to such member 
by the rector or chairman of one of the aforesaid committees, 
unless, for sufficient reasons, such member choose to provide 
a substitute — in neglect of which, such member shall be hable 
to expulsion, or such other penalty as the Guild may see fi 
to impose. 

§ 5. The President and Council shall hold in trust all prop- 
erty belonging to the Guild, control all disbursements except 
such as are made by vote of the Guild, call extra sessions or 
meetings of the Guild, and advise and direct in whatever ap- 
pertains to the work proper to the Guild when not otherwise 
provided for. 

Aet. 5. — Amendments. This Constitution may be revised or 
amended by vote of three-fourths of all the members present 
at a regular meeting of the Guild, providing, written notice of 
the same shall have been given at a regular meeting of the 
Guild, one month previously. 



c3^^5;^-^^;:^i 



Appendix. 155 

Cojistitution of the Clmrch Union Auxiliary of 
Christ Cliurch, Cambridge, Mass, 

We, whose names are heieunto subscribed, do hereby asso- 
ciate ourselves as an auxiliary of the Church Union of the Di- 
ocese of Massachusetts, in the Parish of Christ Church, Cam- 
bridge, and hereby adoj)t the following Constitution : 

Aet. 1. This Society shall be styled the Church Union 
Auxihary of Christ Church, Cambridge. 

Aet. 2. The Constitution of the Church Union of the Dio- 
cese of Massachusetts is hereby declared to be a part of the 
organic law of this Auxihary. 

Aet. 3. All persons connected with this Parish may becojne 
members of this Auxiliary by signing this Constitution, and 
by the payment of such sum or sums of money as may be fixed 
by the Church Union. 

Aet. 4. The officers of this Auxiliary shall be a Chairman, 
Vice-Chairman, Secretary, and an Executive Committee of 
seven persons, ot which the Chairman, Vice-Chairman, and 
Secretary shall be members ex qfficus. The Rector of the Par- 
ish shall be the Chairman. The Vice-Chairman shall preside 
in his absence. The Secretary shall also act as Treasurer. 
All elective officers shall be chosen by ballot at the regular 
meeting next following Easter in every year. 

Aet. 5. The Secretary shall keep a record of the proceedings 
of the Auxiliary at all its meetings, which shall be open to the 
inspection of all its members ; shall take charge of its finan- 
ces (which shall be held subject to the order of the Executive 
Committee of this Auxiliary, ) and render an account of the 
same whenever requested so to do by any member of the said 
Committee, and shall notify all meetings of this Auxiliary. 

Aet. 6. The Executive Committee shall appoint such stand- 
ing committees as may be deemed expedient for the care and 
management of the several departments of work undertaken by 
the Auxiliary, all of whom shall be under the direction of the 
Rector of the Parish, and accountable to him, and shall report 



156 Aggressive Work, 

their proceedings to the Auxihary at each meeting. Vacancies 
occurring in a.ny of the offices of this AuxiHary may be filled 
by the Executive Committee until the next annual election. 
Four members of the Executive Committee shall constitute a 
quorum. 

Art. 7. Regular meetings of this Auxihary shall be held on 
the Friday before the first Sunday, and on the third Sunday 
of every month, at such hour and place as the Executive Com- 
mittee may designate. • Special meetings may be called at the 
option of the Executive Committee. At all meetings five 
members shall constitute a quonim. 

Aet. 8. The order of proceedings at all meetings of this 
Auxihary shall be as follows : — 

1. The Liturgy of the Church Union, as adopted by a vote 
of the Executive Committee thereof. 

2. Reading the records of the last meeting. 
.3. Reports from the Standing Committees. 
4. Reports from Special Committees. 

6. Miscellaneous Business. 

Aet. 9. No alteration or amendment shall be made to this 
Constitution, except by a vote of two-thirds of the members of 
this Auxihary at a meeting called specially for this purpose ; 
notice of the intended amendment having been given at a 
previous meeting. 



